Everglades City
by Reverend Dr Bob N. Wallace, Everglades Community Church
According to the U.S. Postal Service, the largest post office in the United States is the Old Chicago Main Post Office located in Chicago, Illinois.
At its peak, this impressive facility was capable of moving 19 million letters in a single day. While it’s not necessarily the largest in terms of physical size, its operational capacity sets it apart.
But, if you’re driving along U.S. Hwy 41 in southwest Florida and you come to a little place called Ochopee slow down, or you’ll miss it. According to Postal Facts, “the smallest Post Office is in Ochopee, FL (34141) and is 61.3 square feet situated on U.S. Route 41, just 3 miles east of the intersection with State Road 29, proudly serving the locals with a unique charm and history.”
Postal Facts tells us “the building used to be a storage facility for irrigation pipes of an adjacent tomato farm. It was converted into a Post Office in 1953, after a fire that destroyed the previous Post Office and general store. There’s a sign beside the office that reads: “OCHOPEE POST OFFICE”.
According to World Atlas the dimension of the Ochopee Post office is 7×8 feet. Due to the small dimensions, the post office has been described as a closet. The mail slots of this post office are located on the back wall of the building. The small structure only has a single fluorescent tube, which is used to illuminate the poorly ventilated and lighted room. The counters are cramped. It has a pair of sliding screen doors. Outside the post office is a small parking space that can accommodate a few cars.
Considered to be the smallest post office in the United States, this building was formerly an irrigation pipe shed belonging to the J.T. Gaunt Company tomato farm. It was hurriedly pressed into service by postmaster Sidney Brown after a disastrous night fire in 1953 burned the Ochopee general store and post office. The present structure has been in continuous use ever since – as both a post office and ticket station for Trailway’s bus lines – and still services residents in a three-county area, including deliveries to Seminole and Miccosukee Indians living in the region.
Daily business often includes requests from tourists and stamp collectors the world over for the famed Ochopee postmark. The property was acquired by the Wooten Family in 1992.
