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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2016)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016 HERMISTON HISTORY 3RVW2I¿FHERRP Hermiston Post Oice overflowed location in 1941 Come see our HUGE selection today! STOCK UP & SAVE Photo history Crossroad All Stock Cracked Corn 40 Lb. 12% protein. For beef cattle on pasture, for maintenance of horses and growing goats and sheep. By JENNIFER COLTON Staff Writer Mail service to Hermis- ton started slow, just like the sleepy farming town it served, but when the con- struction of the Umatilla Ordnance Depot explod- ed the city’s population, it also sent mail service in orbit. From horseback to wagon, rural mail in the Hermiston area found its owners one way or an- other. The city named its ¿rst postmaster in and didn’t break ground on a designated post of¿ce building until . The quiet mail service had an awakening two decades later. ,n , headlines in the Hermiston Herald chronicled the growing work at the site with week- ly headlines like “City Booms as Work Progress- es at Munitions Site.” The student population for the Hermiston School district doubled and tripled, and, on a Friday evening, at least one local shop closed its doors early because it ran out of beer. With the booming busi- ness and inÀux of work- ers, even the Hermiston Post Of¿ce felt the strain. ,n -une of , new mailboxes were in- stalled, more than dou- bling the city’s total, ac- cording to writings by local historian Ron Ingle. Employees were hired, but the small building constructed for a frac- tion of the business soon proved inadequate as Hermiston’s population exploded. Russell Lee, a photog- rapher and photojournalist for the Farm Security Ad- ministration, traveled to Hermiston that September to document the growth and construction of the depot. Among Lee’s sub- jects were the staff of the Hermiston Post Of¿ce, which grew from three employees in early to employees by Sep- tember of that year. Lee reported: “Eight hundred people got mail at this post of¿ce before the boom; twelve thou- sand get mail here now.” Lee also reported the Post Of¿ce sent out , mon- ey orders monthly with an average of each. Ingle wrote of that, “A total of , money orders amounting to about , were sold, of them in one day. There was a waiting line for mail most of the day; on September , people stood in two lines waiting for services.” Hermiston residents have a long history of dis- agreements as to where a post office should be located, and post office construction sites in the s, the s, and the s were hotly debat- ed on both sides of the city. While Hermiston debated, the settlement of Ordnance, about miles from Hermiston, established a post office on Dec. , , to serve the depot workers. That post office operated until Feb. , . A new Hermiston po- lice office opened in December of , east of the Oasis Theater on Main Street, and was fol- lowed by a location at Fourth Street and Main Street in , according to Ingle. The Hermiston Post Office moved again in the s. The postal service reached an agreement with the city of Hermis- ton and Umatilla County to build a new post of- fice next to the Umatilla County Fairgrounds in . That building was dedicated in . NW FARM SUPPLY (AS40) 50 Lb. Excellent energy source. (CC) 8 99 8 99 Non-Climb Horse Fence 100’ Roll 48” (HF48) 60” (HF60) 119 00 139 00 Triple 16 Fertilizer 50 Lb. (DFT161616) 15 99 40 or more 14.99 each Gly Star TM Plus 41% Glyphosate 2-1/2 Ga. Nonselective agricultural herbicide (9561122) 49 99 Farm Style Cat Food Maintenance Formula Formula Dog Food 40 Lb. Nutrients your pet needs for a long, healthy life. (CF40) 40 Lb. Nutritionally balanced feed your dog will love. (CA21) 18 99 WESTERN RANCH 13 99 12’ Dump 14’ Dump 10kGVWR 14kGVWR 5999 00 2-W 12’ Lemsco Panel PHOTOS BY THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS These photographs were taken by Russell Lee, a photographer and photojournalist who worked with the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression and World War II. Lee visited Umatilla County in 1941 to document the growth of the region and the construction of the Umatilla Ordnance Depot. The photos are now part of the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection at the Library of Congress. Postmasters for the Hermiston Post Office Name - Title - Date Appointed Joseph F. McNaught - Postmaster - 02/03/1905 Clarence K. Bland - Postmaster - 09/09/1905 John H. Williams - Postmaster - 03/14/1908 John H. Young - Postmaster - 03/10/1914 Charles H. Skinner - Acting Postmaster - 11/15/1919 Charles H. Skinner - Postmaster - 05/06/1920 Mrs. Leila A. Phelps - Acting Postmaster - 06/30/1924 Mrs. Leila A. Phelps - Postmaster - 01/26/1925 Hiram J. Stillings - Acting Postmaster - 06/01/1933 Hiram J. Stillings - Postmaster - 05/31/1934 Harvey P. De Moss - Acting Postmaster - 09/16/1935 Harvey P. De Moss - Postmaster- 06/18/1936 William E. Logan - Acting Postmaster - 05/11/1937 William E. Logan - Postmaster - 08/19/1937 Fred M. Reeves - Acting Postmaster - 10/31/1963 Fred M. Reeves - Postmaster - 07/26/1965 Ray Kurz - Officer-In-Charge - 04/08/1976 Ray B. Moses - Postmaster - 09/11/1976 Raymond E. Greenwood - Officer-In- Charge - 12/15/1978 Samuel J. Via - Officer-In-Charge - 04/06/1979 Michael B. Schaefer - Postmaster - 07/28/1979 Kimberly J. Gillet - Officer-In-Charge - 01/03/2005 Kimberly J. Gillet - Postmaster - 03/05/2005 Scott D. Green - Officer-In-Charge - 04/01/2009 60” tall, 98 lbs., 1 1/2”, 14 gauge tubing. Powder coat paint. (L12) 6999 00 Happy Hen Treats 10 oz. 100% natural dried mealworms. Premium treats for chickens. (V123969) 8 99 30 oz. 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