Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

5 Beach Street (Wollaston Post Office)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The first Postmaster of Quincy was Richard Cranch, who received his commission in 1795 and situated the office in a small corner of his estate on School Street. Following Cranch's death, succeeding postmasters located the post office either in or close by their home or place of business. Charles L. Hammond, appointed Postmaster in 1898, was the last Postmaster of Quincy, it becoming part of the Boston Postal District in 1908. In February 1909 the central post office was moved into its first truly permanent home in the new federal building at 47 Washington Street in downtown Quincy.

The Wollaston Post Office was established on February 8, 1871 with Isaiah W. Thayer as postmaster. The office of postmaster was discontinued on July 1, 1900, when Wollaston became a sub-station of Quincy. The new $105.000 post office, built in 1940. was obtained through the efforts of the Wollaston Improvement Association. Designed by architect Louis A. Simon, the post office was built by the Works Project Administration.

Thomas S. Burgin, the late beloved Mayor of Quincy. recalled those depression years and in particular the Works Project Administration: "At the peak of the depression right here in Quincy we had over 10.000 people on our relief rolls and 1800 on WPA projects, plus those employed by private contractors of various public building construction projects." Burgin went on to praise the WPA program not only for the work it provided but for such worthwhile improvements to the City of Quincy as the municipal stadium, street and sidewalk construction, cemetery enlargement, and building projects.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Gertrude Burke Gallagher. comp. History of Quincy 1625-1792, 1944, p. 20.
Historical Sketch of the City of Quincy. Issued by Quincy Lodge of Elks. 1924, p. 48.
Paul Robert Lyons. Quincy: A Pictorial History, 1983, p. 53.
William S. Pattee. History of Old Braintree and Quincy, 1878. p. 176.
Quincy Patriot Ledger, 100th Anniversary, January 7. 1937, p. D-16.
Quincy Patriot Ledger, 1939. (Scrapbook belonging to Robert N. Mood, City of Quincy. Fire Historian.
Quincy Sun, January 30, 1986, p. 13.

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This simple granite 1940 Colonial Revival sub-post office station is another Of Quincy's monument to the WPA project launched in 1935 by President Roosevelt to tackle the Depression problem of aid for the unemployed through work-relief program which built roads, schools, park structures and civic buildings. Its residential scale evokes the small ; 1880 Quincy Post Office which was built in an elaborate Second Empire style, complete with crested mansard roof and glass front, similar to that of stores. Both structures fitted well in their environment. The civic elegance of the 1909 Quincy Post Office, 47 Washington Street, was replaced by a simple rendition of a traditional revival style, characterized by the regular fenestration of multipaned sash -windows, a lunette window in the side gable and an entrance with late Georgian details: an elliptical fanlight and pilasters. A small lantern indicates its institutional function. It is an attractive component in the Beach Street streetscape

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