HOUSTON, TX – To some, the Southmore Post Office located at 4110 Almeda means more than a mail box.
Jacqueline Bostic, a former U.S. Postmaster says, “for our community, the United States Post Office, whether we understand it or not, is a vital part of our community.”
“I stood in front of this very post office, and watch people come in and say ‘the post office is closing?,’ says Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
In February, the U.S. Postal Service announced its decision to move five of six Houston post offices. The Southmore station’s fate was undetermined. Community groups weren’t going down without a fight. No need to panic, nobody went “postal.”
“Freedom is not cheap, or free,” the Congresswoman Lee added.
Its location in Greater Third Ward serves as a historical site. in 1960, Texas Southern University students were Houston’s first to fight for civil rights. Students marched from the campus to challenge the segregated lunch counters at what was then Weingarten’s Supermarket.
Thanks to some petitions, phone calls, and letters appealing the station moving; the decision has been made to let the Southmore Post Office remain open, right where it is.
Bostic went further to say, “it has truly been an honor to work with the community on saving this post office.”
