Post Office

By: Jessika O'Brien and         Alicia Kaempfe The post office hasn't always been in the same place all it's life. Actually, it's been in four different spots, including where it is now. The post office was originally across the street from where Timnath school is now at a place called the Overland Stage. Mail was taken from and delivered to the Overland stage for quite a while. Folks were much more trustworthy back then. All you had to do was ask for your mail!

After that, mail was taken to the parsonage for people to ask the preacher for their mail. The preacher would often say things like, "O Lord, bless this mail to be received by its rightful receiver. O Lord, let there be no deceivers. O Lord, bless this mail." And then he handed it to the person.

Talk about crowded! The post office in Timnath was less expensive than the one in Fort Collins, so nearly everyone in Fort Collins was using it! Finally, the Fort Collins postmasters realized that their customers were disappearing and lowered the price. Peace was restored!

A while after that, thee town decided it would be more convenient to move the post office to the store. It was convenient, you would get your groceries and pick up your mail along with it! Or vice versa, of course. Mail was still just as unprotected, except now it was put into slots for people to come and pick up. So actually, it was even more vulnerable than it was at the parsonage.

Uh- oh! There were reports suddenly of missing mail and people were getting in trouble for not making certain payments. What payments? People were stealing mail! To maintain the privacy of mail, the post office was moved again! This time, the people were given keys to their own private boxes. That's better! Now everyone could get their own mail and no one could steal it! And that is where the post office is now. So, now you know about the four different locations of the post office of Timnath and a bit more!

The mail didn't always come in the same way. The mail came in on train, bus, and now mail cars.

In the early days the mail would come in on train four times a day. The train would come in the early morning, 10:00 am, 12:00 pm, early afternoon, and at 6:00 pm. A small hook took the mail out of the train and set it on the plank. The train would not stop, the hook would just lift the mail. After the train would drop off the mail, the mail was taken to the preacher¹s house. The mail train stopped coming to Timnath after World War II.

Next the bus came to town. Like the train, mail came in 4 times a day (I'm not aware of the times, but I think they are similar). The mail would come into Timnath for towns like Ft. Collins and surrounding areas (Windsor had it's own post office).

Then mail cars like we have today became the way of transportation. Now the mail only comes once a day to the post office. The mail only serves Timnath not Ft. Collins. The post office is small, but who needs a big one in a small town?

As you can see, the mail delivery has changed, but it will never be the same.

Bibliography
Miller, Del, and Elsie Fisher. Timnath.
Fort Collins: Columbine Club, 1996.
Ratterree, Mary Lou. Personal interview. 7 May 2003.

Jessika's Processing Page
I created this history of Timnath page when I was in the sixth grade as part of a final choice class. I chose this topic because it was a topic that was just screaming to be shared. The post office is actually much more interesting than I thought it would be!

One of our sources was the Timnath History book, but our main source was Mrs. Mary Lou Weitzel Ratterree. She actually told us everything we have on our page! Before we interviewed her, we didn't have much at all. She told us everything we ever needed to know, and some! I was a tiny bit nervous at the beginning, but after we talked a while, I was completely comfortable with talking to her, having her talk to me and just asking and answering questions in general. The pre-research we did was looking through a Timnath history book. We found a bit of good information there, but not a lot. The most interesting thing was when one lady brought some old cheerleader outfits. We tried them on and they were so cool! The interviewing experience was fine. It was kind of boring at times and kind of fun at times.

Thank you so much Mrs. Mary Lou Weitzel Ratterree! Without you, our project would be a bunch of fluff!

Alicia’s Process Page
I created this post office page when I was in sixth grade as part of a final choice class. My friend Jessika O'Brien and I chose this because we were interested in how the mail has changed in Timnath. We chose the topic when no one else wanted it and felt we could find a lot of information about it. We were right.

Mary Lou Weitzel Ratterree, whose mother had been a post master for forty years gave us a lot of information. We gathered information from the Timnath book written by Del Miller, Elsie Fisher, and the Columbine Club.

When we were interviewing Mrs. Ratterree, it was interesting. I really wasn¹t nervous going into the interview at all. I didn't do any pre-reachering before the interview. The most intresting thing Mrs. Ratterree showed us was the bricks that have black speckles on them were in the fire and that is how they got the black speckles. I thought the interview experience was very cool and fun.

Thank you to Mrs. Mary Lou Weitzel Ratterree for coming and helping us with this project.

The thing I like most about this project was researching the history of the post office and knowing how much a post office could change.