Dorchester, Iowa, Boasts Oldest Intact Post Office in Two States

New Albin, Ia. - The little old stone post office at Dorchester on the Upper Iowa river probably can lay claim to being the oldest post office in Iowa or Minnesota still intact as originally built.

It dates back to 1853 when the village grew about a mill founded on the river and was built of stone taken from the hills. It has remained unchanged in 97 years.

But where post boys on horseback and stage coaches once delivered mail at the door, Uncle Sam's mail comes and goes in modern ways since the village a short time ago was put on a star mail route, and two rural delivery routes were set up to run out of Dorchester.

Mail that formerly arrived by rail at Waukon, Lansing, Waterville and New Albin and sent from these points to off-the-railroad villages such as Dorchester is now delivered by star route from Marquette. It is a daily 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. mailman's job to make the 165 mile circuit, which goes around by Dorchester as far north as Eitzen over the border in Minnesota.

Photo caption: T.J. Norris and daughter are shown in front of the oldest intact post office in either Iowa or Minnesota. The office, of which Norris is postmaster, is 97 years old,, and could its old stone walls talk they would tell of horseback and stagecoach deliveries of mail.

~The La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, Wisconsin; Sunday, August 13, 1950
~transcribed by S. Ferrall

• Lillian (Welper) Sires
• Mary Lou (Weymiller) Welper
• Celia Gabbett
• Lillian Bellows
• Ruth Valentine
• Elsie Crowley
• Eleanor "Mae" (Sires) Crowley
• Raymond Higgins
• Marcia Baechler
• Virginia Blocker
• Veronica Vichlach
• Delbert Welper
• Frances Coughlin
• Maxine Kester
• Cleon Sires
• Nona Sawyer
• Genevieve Sires
• Florence Irons
• Nina Goebel
• Harold Gerling
• Hilda Kuehn
• Hannah Weymiller

• Herbert Zarwell
• James Valesh
• Edward Fish
• Frank Kelly
• William Stevens
• Joseph Kelly
• Unknown Rohde
• Waldo Caldwell
• John Kelly
• Burton May
• Joseph Reburn
• Roger Weymiller

• Joseph Reburn
• August Krzebietke
• Otto Hurley
• Alfred Meyer
• Arthur Stevens
• Harold Stevens
• Wayne Kester
• Herman Dierksen
• Dale Neumann
• Gustave Welper
• Edward Lampert
• Bernard Kelly
• G. Feurhelm
• Edward Lager
• Stanley Buege
• Merlin Higgins

Old Zip 52160

Cleon Sires, New Albin postmaster, demonstrated his version of post office efficiency with this "souped up" model he dubbed "Old Zip 52160". New Albin's zipcode is 52160.

~June 1976 Allamakee Journal newspaper clipping

~note: The 1928 Plymouth originally belonged to Cleon's father, James Sires.

Cleon Sires
New Albin Postmaster 1958-1981

New Albin Rural Carrier Retires

Cleon D. Sires, New Albin Postmaster, is shown presenting a Service Award to Herbert W. Zarwell for 34 years of service given the United States Postal Service. Mr. Zarwell retired August 4, 1978.

~1978 Allamakee Journal newspaper clipping

Retires as New Albin Postmaster

"Afternoon, what can I do for ya today?" inquired congenial C.D. Sires, postmaster at the New Albin Post Office. Sires will retire his post on June 13, after 34 years of government service. He began as a clerk in 1946 after serving in the Army Air Force during World War II. In 1958 he was appointed postmaster.

"There have been a lot of changes here over the years, but when you really come down to it, the town is still pretty much the same as it always was...it'll never change," he observed. Sires should know -- he was born and raised in New Albin. "I'm a real local boy. Never been anywhere else and never really cared to be anywhere else!" As a "local", Sires has been a volunteer secretary for the New Albin Fire Department for 30 years and has manned the ambulance service for over 15 years. When asked what his plans were after retirement, Sires joked about the many possibilities. "Could be I'll just set on a bench for awhile and spit and whittle," he quipped. As an ardent hunter and fisherman ( he especially likes to turkey hunt according to a good friend Ray Whalen, New Albin banker.) Sires admits he is looking forward to doing some hunting and fishing after retiring. "I'm going to leave the post office to my OIC (Officer in Charge) Mary Lou Welper until another postmaster is appointed and I'm going fishin'." Sires said his wife, Iris, who enjoys woodworking, will probably get some of his help too. He observed that she is the creative one in the family and added that "I really don't do much at all." "Just tell 'em I'm retiring and I've enjoyed being the postmaster these past years and now I'm going to relax," he said with a smile.
~June 1981 Allamakee Journal newspaper clipping

When C.D. Sires retires next week from his job as New Albin postmaster, it will mark a change in the way that things are done in that town. The post office will still be the place to go to get your mail, but it will probably no longer be the place to go where you get the "new" of the town. C.D. is that way. He circulated the information of the town. It wasn't unusual for him to relay oral messages among the townspeople. He'll remain on, working hard for the fire department and the ambulance service. When our reporter tried to interview him about his June 13 retirement, he would have had her believe that he had done little in the way of civic things for the town. Instead, he entertained everybody within ear shot of how he was going to China after his retirement. He never boasted about himself but he sure has boosted New Albin. And for that we'll always admire the man.
~June 1981 newspaper clipping from unknown newspaper

New Albin postmaster Cleon Sires will retire on June 13 after 34 years of government service. Cleon began work as a clerk in the New Albin post office in 1946 after serving in the Army Air Force in World War II.  He was appointed postmaster in 1958. He has been a volunteer and secretary for the New Albin Fire Department for 30 years and has been on the New Albin rescue squad for 15 years. Mrs. Lavern (Mary Lou) Welper will be the officer in charge until a new postmaster is appointed.
~Allamakee Journal, Lansing, June 13, 1981

~*~*~

Postmaster Joe Egli

New Albin's new postmaster is Joe Egli, who recently succeeded Cleon Sires as head of that town's post office. He comes to New Albin from Waterloo and has worked for the Postal Service for 20 years.
~Allamakee Journal, Lansing, hand-dated 1980

~photos & articles were contributed by Errin Wilker