Then & Now: West Side Post Office, Worcester

By the late 1950s, the post office at 117 June St. in Worcester, in a building that once housed an A&P supermarket, was getting cramped.

The branch office served Worcester's West Side and part of nearby Paxton. At the time, postal substations weren't necessarily stand-alone operations; some shared space with other businesses.

For years, Worcester Postmaster John B. Howarth lobbied federal postal officials for an upgrade. In May 1965, U.S. Rep. Harold P. Donohue announced that a deal had been made to reshape a building at 124-126 June St. into a branch post office.

The new spot, just across the Chandler Street intersection from the existing one, would be in the former home of Superior Cleaners & Launderers Co. That business, run for many years by Mitchell B. Forzley, was hit by a fire months earlier. The address was once home to Ward's Market.

On July 22, 1966, after months of remodeling, Worcester's new West Side Post Office — 01602 — was dedicated in a ceremony hosted by Joseph T. Benedict, a senior vice president of Worcester Federal Savings and Loan Association and a member of the Mail Users Council, for business customers of the postal service.

The branch served the neighborhood well for many years, but it soon became outdated. Parking was an occasional issue.

In the mid-1990s, the U.S. Postal Service was again in search of an improved West Side branch. By then carriers were no longer based on June Street, shifting to the main office on East Central Street. The West Side building was considered a retail center.

The search for a new home included the old Capital Toys building on Chandler Street. Meantime, there was talk of reworking the existing post office into a police substation. That option never materialized.

After years of discussion, the U.S. Postal Service built a new branch at 381 Chandler St. The 3,900-square-foot building, next to what is now Rocky's Ace Hardware, remains in service.

Meantime, the old post office at 126 June St. has been home to the 126 Post Salon & Spa for nearly two decades.

Last week Then & Now: Kenilworth Hotel, Paxton

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Then & Now: West Side Post Office, Worcester