2007: CRESTON POST OFFICE FADES INTO PAST

(10/12/2022)
THE BOOMING TOWN OF CRESTON FADING PAST 100 YEARS

It's a sad goodbye, the Creston
Post Office has left the village

By Bob Weaver 2007

"I am pleased to tell you there are no plans to close Creston at this time," postal official Michael Bailey told the Herald in August.

Plans changed quickly.

There is no longer a Creston Post Office at Creston.

The doors closed Wednesday and office equipment was moved to Big Bend.

The building is gone but the address by name remains, at least for a little while.

Michael Bailey, manager of Post Office Operations in the Clarksburg area, told the customers the move is an "emergency suspension" of operations at the Creston site, whose lease was not available for renewal.

Postal officials said they could not find any alternate sites suitable for the office.

Also moving to Big Bend is Creston postmistress Ida Wager, who will be the new OIC at that location. The Big Bend postmaster has left the position.

 

One of the last customers comes to the window
while others load equipment headed for Big Bend

Creston has been placed on the map at least twice during the last century, once for being a bustling riverboat village, and during the past 25 years for Alvin Engelke's "Creston News."

The Post Office currently has two star route carriers and one RFD route, a considerable amount of the delivery related to mail customers in Calhoun County.

Oris Meadows, who recently passed, was a 38-year rural carrier out of the office. Connie Boggs currently is a carrier, with Johnnie Miller bringing the mail from Mt. Zion.

Other old-time carriers were, Edgar Cooper, Rezin Arthur, George Bingham, and Louie Arthur. Carl Merrill was a mail carrier on the early riverboats.

The closed post office will join the few relics of a brighter time still standing in the village.

Alvin Engelke looks a little lost after
coming for a lifetime to the post office