Old Post Office Rockville

Postal delivery in Rockville was first established by Thomas Perry Wilson in 1794. Originally space was leased from store owners and the courthouse was used. The site on which the Old Post Office stands was once home to the Montgomery County Sentinel, a newspaper established by Matthew Fields in 1855. By 1938, the paper had moved out, and the frame house was razed in 1938.

The new post office was part of the Works Progress Administration project, which was an FDR depression-era New Deal program that increased jobs by making many federal projects. The Rockville post office was one of 406 post offices built across the country. It was designed by supervising architect Louis A Simon and architect R. Stanley-Brown. The appearance of the building differed from post offices in Bethesda and Silver Spring, which were designed in a much more classical, federal, style. It was constructed with 77,000 dollars, 35,000 of which went to purchase the lot. The opening of the post office, on July 22, 1939, was celebrated with a parade watched by 3000 people and a special reception at Glenview Mansion. In the second floor of the hexagonal tower, for many years there was a draft board office, and Rockville youth reported there for service.

The post office closed on October 27, 2006, and the General Services Administration, owner of the property, gave the building to the City of Rockville on the condition that it be used for public safety purposes. The city made it the headquarters of the Rockville Police, and the new station and headquarters opened in 2012.

Memorandum, "Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Trusts Form, M: 11-2," n.d., accessed January 3, 2021, https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2026-11-2.pdf

Rockville’s "Old" Post Office, Peerless Rockville. Accessed January 3rd 2021. https://www.peerlessrockville.org/historic-rockville/peerless-places-2/rockvilles-old-post-office/