A lot of people were curious about the image I shared the other day -- Nancy Dager Brownlow's 1934 photo of herself and her brother, Alvin, on the steps of what was then the Warminster Post Office. I wasn't sure what had become of the Post Office building, so I looked into it a little. Here's my theory:
According to "Place Names in Bucks County," by George MacReynolds (1942), the post office was established in 1855 with William Glasgow as postmaster.
Here I've got a cropped image from JD Scott's 1876 Centennial Atlas of Bucks County. We can see the Warminster PO marked, along with a yellow-colored parcel belonging to Glasgow in the lower right quadrant.
Although it's not possible to discern exactly which of the buildings is the post office, when we overlay the 1876 map with a present-day map, we can see that today all of the old buildings have been replaced with a Rite Aid, a Verizon building, Nick's Deli, and so on.
It's sad, but natural. As time passes, one thing replaces another, and after a while, is replaced by something else, and so on into the future. Our present is just another way-mark, one of countless others, on the long timeline of history. It kind of makes you feel insignificant -- but kind of important, too. Either way, I'm glad we've got the photo.
Great work in trying to find the location of the post office. The original building may have existed and I may have seen it years ago, if I had taken notice. So many times we see an empty lot and try to remember what was just there and now gone?
ReplyDeleteThere is an Arnold Brothers Post Card of the corner of York and Street Roads for 1905 showing what is probably the Post Office.
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