Fighting for the Alplaus Post Office to remain open is not a new battle for the hamlet’s residents.
The United States Postal Service has slated this small office for closure, even though it is profitable. The community is rallying around the office, and not for the first time.
Opening the heavy, wooden front door of the Alplaus Post Office reveals a uniquely old fashioned feeling. The modernizations of a USPS facility are absent, evoking the hamlet’s history and small-town atmosphere.
On the back wall there is a Lending Library, with books neatly stacked, waiting to be borrowed. Along the left wall are historical photographs, newspaper clippings and other community snapshots. To an outsider, the post office certainly offers more than stamps.
Cliff Hayes, 74 and a lifelong Alplaus resident, will admit he isn’t a historian, but his curiosity about his hometown’s history has made him something of an expert on the post office.
“I am not a real, true historian … I don’t have anything else to do, I’m retired,” said Hayes. “Since I have retired from work, I am kind of interested in how the village developed.”
A storied history
To verify the history of the office, he sent a request off to the National Archives for a reproduction of the microfilm roll containing information on postmasters from Ontario County through Schoharie County.
“I had no idea what would be on the microfilm, but I was looking for some old information on the post office because I knew it had started back in the late 1800s,” said Hayes. “The real old history we really don’t have too much … we have evidence from the archives that it existed.”
He said the office was originally located next to the railroad tracks for the mail delivery coming out of Schenectady County. National Archive records indicate Joseph Hanigan was postmaster from Oct. 4, 1888, until the post office closed in late April 1908 due “to lake effect,” with no other explanation given, before being reopened in 1922.
Caroline Estabrook became postmaster when it reopened in 1922, which also marked the establishment of the hamlet’s cherished 12008 ZIP code. Residents have expressed concerns about losing the ZIP code once the post office closes shop.
Ida Boyce took over the post office as postmaster in September of 1943 and moved the office inside the former grocery store owned by her father, Jacob, according to a talk given by Merrill Negus, grandson of Jacob Boyce, which Hayes attended. Ida Boyce then moved the post office to its current location on Alplaus Avenue in 1945, but it would be moved several times again before returning.
In the early 1950s, Ida Boyce married Joe Dillman and he opened a bicycle shop in the back of the post office in 1953, according to Hayes. Joe Dillman worked as an expert mechanist at the Schenectady-based American Locomotive Company and the shop served primarily as a hobby. Once ALCO left Schenectady, Dillman retired and ran the bike shop full time, said Hayes.
Boyce choose to retire after serving as postmaster for nearly 30 years. Her retirement began an effort against a possible closure.
“The woman that owned the building and retired in 1972, what she wanted to do was give up the post office … she basically wanted to have the post office moved,” said Hayes. “The postal service really wanted to eliminate the post office.”
After the fight to have the post office remain in 1973, it became a contract office dropping its union-led operations. For the last 10 years, Kathy McGarry Boyle has run the office.
Another crisis develops
Boyle received a letter from the United States Postal Service on Nov. 2 stating the Alplaus office would close by Jan. 6, even though its annual profit is around $40,000. For the third time since 1922, the fight began to save the beloved post office.
There are 19 post offices throughout the country slated for closure as a result of contact negotiations between the clerks union and the Postal Service, according to the postal service.
“This is not negotiable at the local level nor is it a decision that can be overturned,” said USPS spokeswoman Maureen Marion. “We have been mandated to move forward and we will.”
She added the closure doesn’t reflect revenues, performance, or foot traffic to the local office. The community recently held a meeting to discuss options to fight the closure.
“It is a community post office and it provides other functions in the community,” said Hayes. “They’ll lose that. If they close the post office the doors are going to be locked.”
Continuing the fight
The Alplaus Residents Association sent an appeal on Nov. 25 to the national Postal Advisory Commission to urge USPS to reserve its decision to close the office. Association President Andy Gilpin said the commission provides oversight and reviews every closure.
“It has been through the past a rubber stamp kind of deal,” said Gilpin. “Recently, they have sent some (closures) back.”
He added the commission has “no real power” and can’t stop the closure from happening. All it can do is urge the postal service to review the closure again before moving forward.
“There have been a few that have been overturned, but it has been on the postal service side,” he said. “The current chair of that postal commission … is in favor of keeping post offices open, so there is potential.”
Gilpin said he hasn’t received much feedback on the appeal, but Boyle added the commission and USPS have had swarms of appeals filed against pending closures.
Community members have been gathering signatures on a petition to keep the post office open. Gilpin said he recently mailed the petition, holding more than 220 signatures, to various elected officials as a plea for them to intervene and urge the USPS to reverse its decision. As of Monday, Dec. 12, people were still signing additional petitions.
The Glenville Town Board also expressed its support on Wednesday, Dec. 7, by unanimously passing a resolution opposing the closure.
Deputy Supervisor Alan Boulant expressed his displeasure over the closure during the meeting.
“This falls under the common sense category … the closure of the Alplaus Post Office is something that should not happen,” said Boulant. “When you show a profit, the last thing you want to do is close a profit center. It makes no sense whatsoever … if it was a loss I would understand 100 percent.”
