Museums of Western Colorado employees are in the process of installing the original Placerville, Colorado Post Office, used in San Miguel County from 1934 to 1986. The museum acquired the post office in 1986, and the installation will complete the early town exhibition in the Museum of the West which includes the Park Opera house, a rural one-room school house, and the Pastime saloon from the same era. Visitors can enjoy the newly installed façade now and watch as we add components in preparation for a May celebration of several new exhibition at the Museum of the West.
This new exhibit will provide a glimpse into the original post office operations and provide the history behind it. “It was one of the first leadership roles for women, who ran hundreds of rural post office locations across the West,” said David Bailey, Curator of History at the Museums of Western Colorado. In addition to the Placerville Post Office, the adjacent area will have an educational component, where children visiting the Museum can mail letters to the past.
The opening of the new Placerville Post Office exhibition will be publicly celebrated on May 11, with several other new exhibitions, including the new Western Investigations Room and a Colt Revolving rifle exhibit to the Thrailkill Firearms Room.