In a quest for a more modern and up-to-date facility, the Old Mission Post Office plans to move into new digs this spring — just a few steps from their temporary home of three years.
A 20-foot by 30-foot addition to the back of the town's American Legion post will become the new Old Mission Post Office, starting a new chapter in a rich history that pre-dates the Civil War.
Since 2004, when the post office moved from its longtime location next to the Old Mission General Store, all mail-related business has been managed in a small back room of the Legion post. Officer in Charge Michelle Arntz handled her varied duties in the post's former card room but is eagerly awaiting her new space.
"I am excited to move and the community's excited that we're moving into a bigger facility,” said Arntz.
The United States Postal Service and the American Legion have worked together to make the venture a reality. After the post office moved into its temporary home, the Service surveyed the community about postal needs. An overwhelming response supporting the facility helped prompt a search for a permanent home and the joint effort with the Legion.
The Postal Service has signed a 15-year lease with a 15-year option, giving the heart of a small-town community a home for decades to come.
"The Post Office is going to pay the majority of the construction,” said Mary Shultz, a self-termed "assistant helper-outer” with the American Legion Garland-Tompkins post. "We do have responsibilities, such as the septic system.”
The region's first post office was established in 1850 in Old Mission Harbor, serving a large area then known as Grand Traverse. In 1869, the name changed to the Old Mission Post Office. From then until 1919, the facility had different homes in Old Mission, including one in postmaster's William Stone's kitchen where an empty raisin box on the wall collected outgoing mail.
Shultz's research shows that the first mail carrier was a Native American named Ta Pa Sha, also called Jake, who traveled old Indian trails. Another early mail carrier, Jean Baptiste Boursaw, used a hand-sleigh in the winter to carry mail and provisions between Mackinaw and Old Mission, traversing snowy woods and frozen lakes. Boursaw transported mail under sail in the summer.
Helen DeVol, a retired postmistress of the Old Mission Post Office and a longtime Old Mission resident, believes the facility is important to the community. Living there since 1946, when she moved north from Detroit as a war bride, she was postmistress from 1963 until 1987.
"The people really need it out here because it's so far from Traverse City,” said DeVol. "I don't know if you really would call it a gathering place but people do congregate when the mail comes, especially in the summer.”
For a small town with many seasonal residents, having a post office and zip code all their own gives the community a name.
"If you don't have a post office, you're just a spot on the map,” said DeVol, adding of her tenure: "I enjoyed it and met so many wonderful people, I really did. All the well-known people who came through the post office, a lot of them had cottages up here tucked away in the woods.”
The Garland-Tompkins Post of the America Legion, 4007 Swaney Road in Old Mission, will hold a chili dinner and silent auction on Saturday, March 31, from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. A free will offer will be taken for the dinner. Funds raised at the event will help defray construction costs of the building's addition for the Old Mission Post Office. For more information, contact Cal Jamieson at 223-4394 or Mary Shultz at 223-7721.