Bessemer Post Office
The Bessemer Post Office (ZIP code 35020) is the post office serving the City of Bessemer in Western Jefferson County. It is located at 1112 4th Avenue North.
From the city's founding, the U.S. Postal Service leased space for its operations in the Charleston Block on 2nd Avenue North.
In April 1908 the United States approved a $60,000 contract for construction of a post office building at 400 19th Street North. The 15,600 square-foot Beaux-Arts style building is clad in dressed limestone. The entrance facade has three round arches set between pairs of ionic columns with rusticated shafts. The interior features a spacious central lobby. Each department was granted separate offices, including a room for carriers in the basement. It was equipped with modern plumbing and electrical features and heated by hot water. The new post office opened for business on October 11, 1909.
In 1912 postal workers in Bessemer were organized as the United National Association of Post Office Clerks Branch No. 1464.
The post office moved to its present building in the 1960s. In 1965 the vacant former post office was donated by the City of Bessemer to the Bessemer Public Library. The renovated building reopened in 1967. The Bessemer Hall of History, founded in 1969, occupied part of the basement.
Postmasters
- George Lewis, 1909–1912
- John Richardson
References
- "Bessemer's New Postoffice Building, Erected at Cost of Sixty Thousand Dollars." (October 16, 1909) The Birmingham News, p. 9