75202 (Former) Dallas, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 32° 46.659 W 096° 48.457
14S E 705335 N 3628765
The historic Terminal Annex Building once served as an important postal facility for Dallas.
Waymark Code: WMW395
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 07/04/2017
Views: 2
Unvisited Dallas
The U.S. Post Office and Courthourse at Bryan and Ervay Streets was the talk of the town when it opened (after much delay) in 1930. But while the Postmaster and his staff occupied the new building, major postal sorting operations remained off-site in a separate facility along Young Street. This warehouse — leased by the federal government — was both a costly and inefficient operation as the city’s population and overall demand for mail increased.
In 1931 funds were appropriated for a permanent parcel post substation convenient to Union Station and capable of processing mail for the entire region. A site was chosen in 1933 next to Dealey Plaza — a new gateway into downtown also under construction.
Lang & Witchell, one of the most prominent architectural firms in twentieth century Dallas, was chosen to design the city’s fifth new postal facility. The $1,000,000 building opened in August 1937 as the most modern mail-processing center in the country. Originally planned as a two-story structure, it opened with three floors with plans for additions as needed (at one time, a 500-person federal prison was proposed to sit on top of the building). In 1939, funds for two additional floors were appropriated and the building rose even higher.
The Annex featured a small public lobby on the ground floor and became a popular drop-off point for outgoing mail. In addition to lobby service windows, a row of curb-side postal bins allowed for auto service; at one time traffic was so great that a postman stood on the curb with a bag for mail collection.
As with other Federal buildings in Dallas, demand soon outpaced available facilities… even with additional floors added to the Terminal Annex. A renovation of the Annex allowed the building to handle both incoming and outgoing mail, and the necessity of the old post office on Ervay Street began to wane.
In June 1978 shipment of mail by rail had greatly decreased, and all postal operations were moved to a new, state-of-the-art facility in Oak Cliff. The General Services Administration took ownership of the facility (now known as the Federal Building Annex), and since that time the building has housed various military and federal agencies.