Post Office
Post Offices of down town Cocoa Florida;
history, lore and related trivia
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Prior to an established post office the lore is
that the mail was kept in a trunk under a bed and was rescued from
fire and may now be at the
Brevard Museum of History & Natural Science. Many locations
later the newest location of the Post Office is at the corner of
Orange and Florida Avenue as of July 2007.
Two articles from the December 14, 1939 Cocoa
Tribune are a good reference for the earlier histories: "History
of the post office in the city of cocoa is Given - Twelve Have
served Here as Postmasters" and "Trunk Served as The first Post
office In community." The following information was obtained from
these articles:
The Cocoa Post Office was established
September 11, 1884 with William B. Smith as the Postmaster.
Some of the post office locations as listed
(note the listings suggest to be in chronological order, but
they may not be, and the listings make references to locations
at the time of the article):
- A small residence on King Street just
west of the city hall building (1939 city hall)
- A small wooden building at the corner of
Willard and Brevard avenue occupied in 1939 by the brick
building of Mrs. Virginia Jones (this building was still
standing just west of the store building as of 1939).
- A coquina building at the corner of
Harrison and Brevard. The present site of the Aviles
Building (present site as of 1939)
- In the front part of the then store of
the Travis company corner of King and Brevard Avenue.
- The then H. C. Eyer Building, now
occupied by the Weathers bar corner King and Brevard Avenue
(note this was as of 1939)
- The brick building now occupied as an
office by East Coast Lumber & Supply company on Willard
Street (note this was as of 1939)
- The old City Hall building on
Willard Street, occupied by the American Legion as of 1939
- The south part of the Masonic Temple
building, occupied by Piggly Wiggly as of 1939
- Location on Magnolia Street. This
may have been in the small building we today call the
Magnolia Mall at 12 Stone street, but that is not know as
fact.
- (It is known by later sources the Post
Office Moved to 435 Brevard Avenue in May 1940, later to
Orange Avenue and then July of 2007 to Florida Avenue.)
As of December 1939 twelve citizens were
listed as Postmaster (the article appears to recount same
individual when promoted from acting position):
- William B. smith, appointed September 11,
1884
- Robert N. Andrews, January 8, 1887
- James T. Bassett, March 23, 1893
- Maynard M. Mcleod, May 19, 1893
- Charles J. Schoonmaker, June 9, 1897
- James A. Haisten, January 18, 1916
- Henry L. Maxwell (acting), September 9,
1920
- Oakley K. Key, October 7, 1921 (Raised to
second class.)
- Edward N. Winslow (acting), July 15, 1925
- Edward N. Winslow, March 11, 1926
- Lewis S. Andrews (acting), January 1,
1934
- Lewis S. Andres, August 9, 1935
Here is an excerpt from the article "Trunk
Served as The first Post office In community" on the same page
of the December 14, 1939 Cocoa Tribune:
" Believe it or not,
a very small trunk, now on display in The Tribune office,
served as the first post office in this community. The
trunk, now owned by Russell Dixon, of Cocoa, was owned by
his grandmother the later Mrs. N. J. Dixon, who was post
mistress of Magnolia Point, located about tow miles north of
the business section on the Indian River.
According to Mr. Russell Dixon, his grandmother was postmistress from
about 1870 to 1880, the post office was in the log cabin
home of his grandparents. Mail was brought here down the St.
Johns River to Poinsett Landing, and was carried to magnolia
Pointe, where Mrs. Dixon kept it and the stamps she had for
sale, in the small trunk. During the big fire that destroyed
everything in the vicinity of Magnolia Ponte, in March,
1876, the trunk with its mail and stamps was saved by Mrs.
Dixon who took it into the Indian River , while the home was
burning, to keep the mail of the pioneers from burning with
it. History records that the small trunk was the only thing
saved. Mrs. Dixon retired from the position as postmistress
when the post offices at City Pointe and Cocoa were
designated.
In the days when Mrs. Dixon was postmistress the settlers traveled mainly
by sailboat. They would go to Magnolia Pointe and pick up
their mail and leave other mail for dispatching by the next
boat north. Those were the days when mails were important
contact with the outside world.
Mrs. Dixon was the mother of the late Adam S. and Zack Dixon, and R. L.
and Will Dixon, who are pioneers of this section."
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Images and information about more recent locations:
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The postcard picture shows a view of the
old town hall on Willard Street.
The public school and the Post Office use to be at this location. |
Post card view of Town Hall on Willard Street
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Masonic Building, view from Brevard Avenue.
Picture may not be from same time period when Post Office resided. |
The 1926/1927 Cocoa City Directory lists the post
office at the address of 10 Magnolia Street in the Masonic
Temple Building. That location is likely the same small
storefront to the left of the stair entrance that today looks out on
the gazebo.
The same 1926/1927
directory Masonic Building had listings on Magnolia Street and
also on Brevard Avenue. Even present day the same building has
multiple addresses on Stone Street and Brevard Avenue. The
Cocoa Bank and Trust was listed as 311 Brevard, The addresses
313, 315, and 317 on Brevard are also associated with the
Masonic Building.
Magnolia Street in later years was renamed Stone Street in honor of
Richard Stone. The late Mr. Stone founded Stone Funeral Home in
Cocoa and was active in community civil rights.
The section of street between Brevard Court and Brevard Avenue was closed
and the local Rotary Club built the Myrtice Tharpe Square
landmark with a gazebo and pedestrian area.
As late as the 1990's during an address survey a postal worker was very
surprised to be told by tenants that 313 Brevard was the
lower floor, 315 the suites on the middle floor and 317 the
upper floor. She also discovered that the little store front for
the same building looking on the gazebo was listed on a
different street, 10 Stone street. Today 311 Brevard is not the
Masonic Building and is used for the storefront that was created
by adding a second entrance on Brevard Avenue to the the
south part of the building at 305 Brevard Avenue. What
happened to 307 and 309 Brevard Avenue could be a future mystery
question since presently the USPS zip code generator lists them
as undeliverable!
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On July 2, 1938 the Treasury and Post Office
Departments announced an award of $70,000 for building a post office
building in Cocoa. An article in the Cocoa Tribune
noted that the city had two sites available. The article only listed
the site that was later picked at the corner of Brevard and Orange
as one block south of the existing post office in the existing Post
Office. That property was owned by Mr. E. Wuesthoff according a
Tribune article. Another Tribune article stated that the
selected lot was originally the former home site of the late Dr.
L.T. Daniel and Mrs. Daniel and their family known as "Daniel Park,"
and was accepted for purchase price of $3,500.
The building was completed and occupied May of
1940 by then Postmaster L. S. Andrews and personnel.
This "Federal" Building and the 0.38 acres
of land was later used by other government organizations till about
1997 when the the City of Cocoa obtained and held it for about a
year and then it was purchased by the Florida Historical Society
April 2004 |
Post Office at 435 Brevard Avenue |
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View of Post Office on Orange Avenue the summer or
2005
View of the post office building on Orange being
demolished,
June 2006. |
The Post Office
location at 32 Orange Street was completed by the end of 1965
and dedicated January 15, 1966.” Of interest the land was
owned by the city, but the building was said to have been leased to
the Post Office by a lawyer who financed the construction and many
years later the City of Cocoa RDA#1 project had the opportunity and
bought the building at about the same time the Gazebo area was under
renovation around 2005(?) causing delays because the changes in
funding priority.
The roof had a lot of problems leading up to
being abandoned circa 2006. While waiting for a replacement
branch office, patrons had to go to the Post Office near the Beach
Line to retrieve their mail from the post office boxes. The building
was
demolished during June and July of 2007. The location prior to
the post office was referred by locals as Daniel Park:
The northeast corner of Orange
Street and Brevard Court in an area known as
Daniel Park,
directly west, across Brevard Court from the old Cocoa Post
Office in the WPA building that faced Brevard Avenue (now
the Tebeau-Field
Florida
Historical Library.) was used for the
Cocoa Shuffleboard Courts, a favorite gathering place for
winter tourist from the late 30s through 1964. Behind the
court's Shelter was the
USO Club that served Naval Personnel from the Banana River
Naval Air Station, now Patrick AFB. It was completed early in
1942 at a cost of $10,000. After WW II it was used as the Cocoa
Youth Center for dances, parties, etc. It later became the City
of Cocoa Public Library until the middle of March 1965, when
both the shuffleboard courts and the library were demolished to
make way for a new US Post Office at 32 Orange Street.
Discussions at City meetings during 2007 suggest
that the property may be used as a municipal parking with temporary
paving pending a future building with stores at ground level and a
parking garage. If you have notes or links on the usage please
contact the webmaster for clarification here. |
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Today the present downtown Cocoa office was
labeled as the "Cocoa Village Station" and located at the corner of
Orange and Florida avenue with the address of 600 Florida Avenue in
the building called by the builders the "Orange Street Tower." The
Opening of the "Cocoa Village" station was scheduled for the middle
of July 2007.
On the door the full service Hours are listed as Monday
through Friday 9am to 4pm and closed Saturday, Sunday and
holidays. Self service hours are listed 24 hours a day, 7
days a week.
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Post Office at 600 Florida Avenue. |
REFERENCES:
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