POST MARK COLLECTORS CLUB - POST OFFICE PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION

Post Office: Chiacgo, IL 60607 (Cook County)
Date of Photo: circa 1940s
Contributor: Paul E. Petosky, Postmarks from the Past
Comment: Established on March 31, 1831 with J.N. Bailey as its first postmaster. The New Chicago Post Office was constructed in 1932 and dedicated on February 15, 1933. Cost approximately $22,000,000. This is the most modernly equipped Post Office in the world and extends from Harrison Street, north to Van Buren Street and from Canal Street to the river. IMPORTANT HISTORICAL FACTS: This huge building has 2,309,000 square feet or 50 acres of floor space and has a daily capacity of 35,000,000 letters and 500,000 sacks of papers and parcels. 125 trains can be loaded at one time on the railroad tracks underlying the structure. These figures were from the 1940s.