The first Post Office was established in Marceline in 1888 and was located on East California Street where the Gucker Coal Co. is presently located. The first Postmaster was Mr. Ed West. Thereafter, the Post Office was moved five times until it was settled permanently in the present building in 1936. It has been located at the site of the present Masonic Temple, in the rear of the Zurcher building, the corner of the Allen Hotel building and for a time at the Hier building where the Stanley Market is presently housed.
Left to right, C. F. Strickel, clerk; L. T. McKinney, P. M., Jewell S.
In 1892 Mr. J. A. Smith was appointed Postmaster and he was followed by Mr. D. N. Wheeler in 1893. Mr. Jackson Whiteman was selected in 1900 and he was succeeded by Mr. G. W. Bigger in 1904. During that same year Mr. J. D. (Cap) Bush was appointed and his term of office ran to 1909. Mr. F. M. Wolfe’s term of office lasted until 1913 when he was replaced by Mr. J. S. (Shupe) Walker. In 1922 Mr. L. T. McKinney was appointed by President Harding. It was about this time that City Carrier Service was established. Village Delivery service had been established sometime in 1917. Pres. Roosevelt appointed Mrs. Anna Watson as Postmaster in 1933 and her term of office ran until 1955 when she was succeeded by Mrs. Josephine Gambill as Acting Postmaster. In November, 1958, Mr. John R. Allison was appointed as Acting Postmaster and in June, 1959, he was appointed as a permanent Postmaster by President Eisenhower.
The receipts of the Post Office coincide with the growth of the town. The records show that in 1893 the receipts were $3,120. In 1910 they doubled as did the town to $6,700. Then in 1918 after the first World War, they again doubled to $11,300. The receipts were more or less stationary until 1943 when they again rose to $17,000.
During the boom years of 1949 the total increased to $26,202. This was about the time that the printing companies were introduced to Marceline on a nationwide basis. The receipts in 1962 were $51,900 which will undoubtedly make Marceline a first class office.
PRESENT STAFF OF THE POST OFFICE
Earl Rioth, Assistant Postmaster; Elmer Stanley, Clerk; Lyle Armstrong, Clerk; Wilbur Ralston, City Carrier; Eugene Wiggins, Sub. City Carrier; John Helton, Jr., Sub. Clerk; William Klein, Rural Route Carrier; Joe Lewis, Rural Route Carrier; William Twitchel, Rural Route Carrier; Oscar Pischel, Fireman; Eugene Padgett, Custodian; Robert Rieck, Sub. Rural Carrier; Claud West, Sub. Rural Carrier; V.R. Preston, Sub. Rural Carrier; Frank Formento, Mail Messenger; John R. Allison, Postmaster.
SECOND ROW: Oscar Plschel, William Klein, Wilbur Ralston, Robert Rieck.
THIRD ROW: Joe Lewis, ,Earl Rioth, Eugene Wiggins, Lyle Armstrong.
Painter Thomas Hart Benton, who would have been 100 this year had he lived beyond 1975, cast his long artistic shadow on Marceline in 1938.
Benton, famous for his murals (the most notable being those in the Missouri State Capitol,) influenced another painter of murals, Joseph Meert, who was commissioned to paint the mural in the newly constructed Marceline Post Office, which was built in 1936.
The mural still decorates the lobby of the post office.
Throughout the State, various groups will pay tribute to Benton during 1989. Events include a special exhibit at Nelson-Atkins Art Gallery in Kansas City.
Joseph John Paul Meert was born in Brussels on April 28, 1905. After studying in Europe, he arrived in the United States and eventually became a student of Benton at the Kansas City Art Institute. Meert became a teacher at the institute by 1940. He assisted Benton on some works.
During the mid-1930s, Meert was commissioned to paint murals in three post offices. In addition to Marceline’s, he painted murals in the post offices of Mount Vernon, Missouri, and Spencer, Indiana.
The Marceline mural bears a striking resemblance to the distinctive style of Benton, who painted curving lines of motion using basic colors. It depicts the history of Marceline’s economy of coal mining and agriculture. It measures 12 feet by five feet.
Immediately prior to working in Marceline, Meert was on the faculty of the St. Genevieve artist’s Colony Summer School of Art, where he lectured along with Benton in a class on murals and public art.
The mural was funded by the Federal Works Progress Administration, one of several federal programs for artists, writers and photographers up to combat joblessness during the Great pression of the 1930s.