York, Pa., postmaster: ‘The statues were made for the post office. We want to keep them in the post office.’
Workers move two Thanksgiving statues from the U.S. Post Office in York, Pa. The longtime downtown post office will be closed and operations moved elsewhere in York. The statues reportedly will be relocated in the East York post office. “The statues were made for the post office,” the postmaster said. “We want to keep them in the post office.” (See additional photos and a video below.) Also of interest: What are some uses for building if York post office moves out? and The old Post Office in York and Political foes in York, Pa., not impressed with Abe Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamations
Things are changing in and around York’s columned post office.
Let’s get up to date from various York Daily Record/Sunday News and Yorkblog reports:
1. The post office, built in 1912 and circa 1940, is being closed because only a fraction of its expanse is in use.
2. To make things ready for sale, the Thanksgiving statues in the lobby of the York post office have been moved to the main York County post office in East York.
3. A meeting is set to discuss possible locations for the new post office somewhere in York. 2. The postal service is looking for another location in York, Pa. Yorkblogger June Lloyd has suggested an appropriate place would be the building previously used as a post office, the ornate building across from Central Market.
4. The columned current post office will presumably be available for other uses… .
The statues, background right, stand in their seven-decade location in York’s post office before their removal.
So, suggestions for a new location? Suggestions for re-use of the current building? And is the East York post office the best location for the Thanksgiving statues? Should they remain downtown somewhere? Please comment below or on my Facebook page.
Here is the skinny on the statues, courtesy of the York Daily Record/Sunday News and June Lloyd.
The Federal Works Agency in 1941 held a contest that produced two statues that stood inside the entryway of the York Post Office until Thursday. Entrants were urged to consider York and its history in choosing the subject of their sculpture.
The winners were George Kratina of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Carl Schmitz of New York. Kratina sculpted “Singing Thanksgiving,” a statue of a father and daughter singing. Schmitz sculpted a farmer in front of two sheaves of wheat bowing his head in thanksgiving.
The entries played on the first national Thanksgiving proclamation made by Continental Congress in York in 1777.
A look at the statues on the move.
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You can always search for York Town Square posts on Google. For example, when you search for yorktownsquare and Thanksgiving, you get this.
