Remember When From the Past--November 29, 2007

Remember When
Thursday, November 29, 2007 2008
Kenna Holm  

PAYSON POST OFFICES


    Does anyone remember the post office when it was located where JoAnn’s Head Shed is now located?  It was really small and narrow.  But then Payson only had about 3,000 residents.  I can just remember going in there and seeing all the little gold-colored boxes for the mail. 
    In 1942,  the postal service in Payson was advanced from rating as Village Delivery to City Delivery.  (We were really something!)  In July 1949, parcel post delivery was started.
I remember Old Bill Clayson  walking all over the west side of town pulling his little mail cart with the mai pouch on it delivering the mail.  I don’t know who delivered the east side of town (later I found out it was Ed Patten–Don and Duane’s father.)  I do know that some of the mail carrier rode bicycles to deliver.

   Business increased and they needed a larger building.  They then moved to 41 South main Street.  It was the building just south of Roland Lindsay’s shoe repair.  This building was later torn  down and the Forsey’s  store was remodeled and increased in size. 

   The postmaster was Vernal Tweede at that time and his assistant postmaster was my neighbor, Grace  Goble.  Dot Beddoes, Diane Hansen’s mom,  also worked there until she got ill with cancer and passed away.  Grace Goble started working at the post office in 1928.  She and Dot both worked for a lot of years.
     When Vernal Tweede retired in 1964, James Durrant Sr. became the postmaster.  He held the  position until 1966 when Francis Haskell took the position.  Reed Argyle was named the assistant postmaster.

    A new building was constructed expressly for the post office at 91 South 100 East. It was built to accommodate twice the 4,200 population of Payson in 1967.  In 1968, we really got advanced. We now became a motorized department with 3 jeeps with right hand drive to replace the bicycles that were used for so many years.
We now have a beautiful post office building at 955 East 100 North that was built in 1997. It now employs 26 with 7 rural routes where the carriers furnish their own vehicles.  The current postmistress is Leona Gardner.
I believe there are now over 17,000 people living in Payson now.  Boy, how things change but it is fun to remember when...