Ashley’s old post office could live on in history
BILL O ’ BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
ASHLEY – One man is working to preserve the Ashley Post Office’s interior for public display.
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Michael Chmiola has a plan to keep memories of the Ashley Post Office alive. He wants the U.S. Postal Service to donate much of the interior so that it can be put on display. The Plymouth Historical Society is interested and says it has the space.
Michael Chmiola, 28, wants to preserve the interior facade of the post office – a wood structure that will be dismantled and placed in storage unless Chmiola can convince the U.S. Postal Service to donate it so it can be placed on display. The Plymouth Historical Society has already told Chmiola that it has space to display the structure.
“It’s lasted so long – maybe 158 years – and it will be gone soon,” Chmiola said. “This is an important part of our history and it should be put on display and not placed in storage or destroyed.” Ray Daiutolo, regional spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service, said a maintenance crew will be in there soon to start removing all the equipment and dismantling the wooden facade.
“I’m facilitating Mr. Chmiola’s request with our district office,” Daiutolo said. “Some of the work to unpostalize the space we rent could result in some damage. But if they can salvage the wooden structure, we will try to help Mr. Chmiola out, but we won’t know until we get in there and start talking the stuff out.”
The wooden structure is old, but neither Chmiola nor the Postal Service can say when it was installed in the post office that opened in 1853 – 17 years before Ashley was incorporated as a borough. Georgetta Potoski, director of the Plymouth Historical Society, said her building has space to accommodate the structure. “We would have no problem with that,” she said.
Chmiola is a member of the Plymouth and Luzerne County historical societies.
Ashley Post Office Established in 1853
Chmiola did some historical research and found that the post office was originally known as the Hendricksburg Post Office, established in 1853. One of the first postmasters was William Barkman. Chmiola said in 1870, the borough of Ashley was incorporated and in that year the post office’s name was changed to Ashley. The borough got its name from Herbert H. Ashley, who was one of the largest stock holders in the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The CNJ had a large railroad yard and shop complex in town.
The railroad company also operated the Ashley Planes as a way of getting freight and passengers into and out of the Wyoming Valley dating back to 1840.
In 1903 the postmaster at Ashley was paid a salary $1,100 while the postmaster at Wilkes-Barre was paid a salary of $3,200. At that time his salary was determined by the volume of mail and the cancellation of stamps at the particular post office, Chmiola said.
According to Chmiola’s research, in the 1890s the postal service began the Rural Free Delivery (RFD) program, where mail was brought directly to people’s houses at no charge. Before this time people would have had to go to their local post office or general store to claim their mail.
In 1904 Ashley along with Kingston and Dorranceton were granted free home delivery by the Postal Service, while the residents of Edwardsville, Luzerne, and Forty Fort were denied home delivery because the postal inspectors deemed the towns to have insufficient sidewalks, paved streets, street lights, along with the lack of house numbering, Chmiola found.
Home delivery
Chmiola said home delivery began in Ashley borough on Sept. 1, 1904. He said Ashley was served by a full post office with its own postmaster up until Sept. 21, 1904, when it was made a full sub-station of the Wilkes-Barre main post office. On Oct. 1, 1904, the new furnishings began to be delivered for the new Ashley Branch post office.
Chmiola said in 2009 the Postal Service began reviewing branches and small post offices across the country and began to make decisions on which should be closed for cost-cutting efforts.
Five weeks ago the Postal Service announced that the Ashley Branch would close.
The last day of operation of the Ashley Post Office was Friday. “It will be the
end of 158 years of service to the community when the doors are locked for the
last time at 5 p.m.,” Chmiola said.