The first post office in Minneapolis was built on the west bank on High Street in 1854 and operated by postmaster Hezekiah Fletcher. The present day post office was completed in 1933 and occupies nearly the same site. A seven-level parking ramp and loading dock for bulk mail were added to the west in 1976. The post office was built in of granite and stone at a cost of $4.5 million. The main building is 540 feet (165 m) long. Its interior is unchanged and postal customers still utilize its original bronze teller cages and fixtures, marble floor and sandstone walls. Perhaps the longest light fixture in the world, a 350 foot, 16 ton bronze chandelier runs the length of the lobby. The fixture was originally designed to regulate temperature. Peepholes were installed in the corridors so that inspectors could protect the mail and observe employees. The main building contained a three-room suite paneled in walnut for the postmaster, rec rooms and a hospital unit for employees as well as a rifle range in the basement.
This 25-ton Pioneer sculpture by John K. Daniels is waiting for a permanent home in Minneapolis. This statue, which depicts three generations, was first erected in 1936 in downtown Minneapolis. In 1961 the Pioneers traveled over the River to their current location. Then it was relocated on the corner of Marshall Avenue and 5th Avenue NE in Minneapolis on a little lot almost adjacent to the neighboring house for as long as I can remember, but last year they headed across the street to the much larger grassy area known as B.F. Nelson Park along the Mississippi River.