Stewart Post Office Closes in 1982

Since the United States Post Office Department was established in 1792, numerous post offices have opened and closed around the country. The current Postal Service maintains a state-by-state listing of open and closed facilities, but even there many discontinued offices are not listed. 

One post office that has come and gone in Alabama was in Stewart in Hale County. Below you can see the sign from my collection posted there ahead of its closing. Stewart was founded in 1844 as a stop on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad. Akron is also located on that railway. 

According to Virginia Foscue's Place Names in Alabama [1989] the community was first called Stewart's Station, in honor of an early settler of the area, Charlie Stewart. A post office operated under the name Stewart's Station from 1871 to 1903, and under the name Stewart from 1903 to 1982. That's a pretty long run for a small town post office, 1871 until 1982.

Also below I've included a list of the Stewart postmasters--or "officers-in-charge" as some are labelled-- from 1951-1981. Only two are male. Then there's a photo of Stewart in 1961, taken by our own William Christenberry. Finally, I've added a clip from a 1930 state road map showing Stewart and Akron. I checked the most recent official Alabama highway map and did not find Stewart. 

Stewart Postmasters 1951-1981

Source: U.S. Postal Service

Stewart in 1961

Photo by Alabama native William Christenberry

Source: High Museum of Art

A 1930 state highway map shows Stewart and Akron on the railroad line. Wedgeworth had its own post office 1895-1955. 

Source: University of Alabama historical maps collection

Mailed from Montgomery in 1944

You just never know what will turn up in old newspapers. In going through our parents' house in Huntsville in 2023 and 2024, we found a large cache of World War II issues of the Gadsden Times. Our paternal grandmother had apparently saved hundreds of front pages from that publication. Thus what we found was that page and three others of each day's issue. She didn't bother to detach the front page from the larger sheet. Dad brought these papers back to Huntsville when he cleaned out his mother's home in Gadsden after her death in 1997. 

The war news day-by-day is fascinating, but a lot of interesting local and state items pop up as well. This post has one of them, from the Times issue of January 25, 1944. That headline grabbed me right away. Apparently postal authorities in Memphis on January 18 opened an unclaimed parcel post package mailed from Montgomery on January 8. Inside was the infant's body, wrapped in a January 7 Montgomery newspaper, a towel from a hotel in the city and some brown wrapping paper. 

Two women in Montgomery were being questioned by Temple Seibels, Circuit Solicitor. No charges have been brought as yet, but Seibels vowed to prosecute if evidence from the state toxicologist indicated murder or "birth by unnatural means". 

Seibels is the only person named in this article. His Find-A-Grave entry identifies him as William Temple Seibels [1873-1960]. He apparently held the office a long time; the 1923 Alabama official register lists him as the Solicitor of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Montgomery County. A circuit solicitor was responsible for the prosecution of criminal cases within a judicial circuit. 

I wonder how this event played out. In 1989 I published a book entitled Criminal Activity in the Deep South, 1700-1930: An Annotated Bibliography. In putting that book together I came across some really bizarre crimes and criminals, but I don't remember anything quite like this one--assuming a crime was indeed committed. Further research in Montgomery newspapers or court records might give an answer. 

That 25 cents seen on the lower right was the cost of a weekly subscription delivered by carrier, not a daily issue. 

Source: Find-A-Grave

Birmingham Photos of the Day (40): The Post Office in 1906

The magnificent building in the first photograph below stood on the corner of 2nd Avenue North and 18th Street. Constructed in 1893, the structure served as both federal courthouse and post office. The second photograph shows the building under construction in September 1892. New Orleans architect William Freret also designed some of the Woods Quad buildings at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

The BhamWiki site has more detail about the materials and design. That site also notes the building's fate:

"The courthouse was torn down in the 1920s to accommodate the expansion of a nearby retail store. That project was never realized and the lot was used in 1970 for a parking deck for Loveman's department store. The deck continues to serve the McWane Science Center."

One thing to notice about these two photographs taken 14 years apart are the different signs in the lower right corner and across the street. According to comments about the much larger version of the first photograph on the wonderful Shorpy site, Schindler's Saloon is advertising "Old Musty Ale." Herman D. Cable founded the Cable Piano Company in Chicago in 1880.

Source: U.S. Library of Congress Digitial Collections

Source: BhamWiki.com