The 1937 Medford Post Office is located in downtown

Medford, Wisconsin Medford is a city and county seat of Taylor County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,349 at the 2020 census. The city is located mostly within the boundaries of the Medford (town), Wisconsin, Town of Medford. History Medford is lo ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2000. Until 1937, Medford's post office was housed in the J. W. Benn Building, just up the street. Benn was appointed Medford's postmaster in 1909, and moved the post office to his own private commercial building. His term ended in 1913, when the new president appointed a new postmaster, but the post office remained in his building for years, through subsequent postmasters. With By the 1930s there was a general move to get post offices into dedicated public buildings. In Medford the

Postal Service The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...

constructed this building in 1937, with help from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. The main block is red brick, trimmed in limestone, with brick

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

on the corners. The front entrance is a classical

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

, like a shallow Greek temple with simple columns decorated with

acanthus leaves The acanthus () is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration in the architectural tradition emanating from Greece and Rome. Architecture In architecture, an ornament may be carved into stone or wood to resemble ...

supporting a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

that says UNITED STATES POST OFFICE. At the top of the exterior wall is a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

and above that limestone

balusters A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

. The roof behind is hipped, broken by dormers. Inside are the original the

terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bind ...

floor, marble wainscot, wood trim and doors. Some doors and fixtures have been replaced. With

References

Buildings and structures in Taylor County, Wisconsin Post office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Colonial Revival architecture in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Taylor County, Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-NRHP-stub

See also

References