The historic U.S. Post Office building in Bay City (Pictured above in a 1933 Photo) has been placed up for sale by the government. Bay City Post Office Building For Sale, Counter Service to Remain
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The historic U.S. Post Office building in Bay City has been placed up for sale by the government.
Mayor Christopher Shannon told MyBayCity.com he was informed of the pending sale by letter. He said: "Of course we are concerned about the effect on downtown but encouraged by the positive aspects of the proposed solution."
Mr. Shannon said he understands that the present customer-based postal services will remain in place and that the U.S. District Court that occupies much of the third floor intends to remain under a lease arrangement.
In recent months, the Post Office has announced that mail sorting operations have been moved to Saginaw or Pontiac. However, 24-hour delivery to local zip codes has been promised.
The Post Office intends to lease back some 16,000 square feet (about 20 percent of the building's space) of the total of 82,000 square feet in the building, according to Nancy L. Rettinhouse, Post Office district manager for Michigan.
"If the sale goes through, nothing will change from our customers' perspective," wrote Ms. Rettinhouse. "The Bay City postal customers will continue to purchase stamps, mail and ship packages or rent Post Office boxes in the same location.
"It is our desire to continue to maintain a presence in the downtown Bay City area and to provide excellent mail delivery to its residents and businesses."
The lease back is a requirement of any offer to be submitted by interested parties, the postal official indicated, adding:
"This solution allows us to make optimal use of our Post Office network, generate additional revenue to help cover operating costs and capital improvements and provide local municipalities with an avenue to raise property tax revenue."
Last April, U.S. Rep. Dale F. Kildee, Flint, Member of Congress representing this area, was able to stave off a threatened closing of the building. The plan just announced appears to be a compromise in that the postal windows and the court will remain and no new building or other location will be utilized.
Ms. Rittenhouse wrote to Mayor Shannon: "The Postal Service is facing the most critical period in its history. With the economic downturn and increased diversion to the Internet, mail volumes have dropped precipitously; even when the economy recovers, mail volume is not expected to return to previous peak levels."
The Federal Building is a historic structure, having been erected in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression under a program of the Works Progress Administration. It replaced an earlier structure on the same site that dated to 1893.
Architectural historian Dale F. Wolicki says the Bay City Federal Building is one of few buildings completed during the Depression. He describes it as "a dignified neo-classical design," that emerged under direction of U.S. Treasury Dept. architect James Westmore.
"The nine bay symmetrical facade features two separate entrances, each accentuated with a classical surround, two-story pillars and a roof line pediment finished with Corinthian capitals.
"Between the entries, the central bays feature round-top windows with arched fanlights that illuminate the lobby."
Historic incidents in the Bay City Federal Building include the 1938 sentencing of Tony Chebatoris, Hamtramck bank robber, who shot a Bay City man in a botched holdup in Midland, and the capture in 1956 of a deranged attacker who fired a shotgun at Judge Frank Picard, who jumped off the bench with robes flapping, promptly ran down the gunman and helped place him under arrest.
Over the objections of Gov. Frank Murphy, Federal Judge Arthur Tuttle sentenced Chebatoris to hang for the death of Henry S. Porter, a driver for Jennison Hardware. It was the 13th and last execution in Michigan history.
The mail to Bay City originally came from Detroit by way of Saginaw on foot, horseback or canoe; by 1865 the railroad ran to Saginaw and was transferred to boat or stage to Bay City. In 1867 Bay City had its own railroad and irregular mail service was a thing of the past.
Portsmouth had its own post office by 1857 and by 1872 post offices were located in Banks, Wenona, Salzburg, Kawkawlin, Essexville and Pinconning. The latter three still survive, along with Station A on the West Side and Auburn.
Small buildings housed the local post office on Water Street from the 1860s until 1871 when it moved to the magnificent Westover Block at Center and Washington. A spectacular fire in 1886 destroyed the Westover building that also housed Second National Bank, a saloon, several stores and many offices and an opera house seating 1,200 on the third floor.
Soon a new building rose from the ashes of the Westover fire. It was called the Phoenix Building after the ancient Greek mythical firebird that arose from the flames of a catastrophe.
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