In 1940 construction began on the new location for the Post Office in Columbia on S Garden St. A year later on June 17, 1941 the building was finished and a dedication ceremony was held on the front steps. We recently ran across an envelope of negatives of this event and have scanned them, uploaded and put together a collection for you to see.
Governor Prentice Cooper was among the dignitaries that spoke at the ceremony and you can see him in a couple of the photos. There are some nice exterior shots of the building with various cars from that Era. Among the points of interest in this particular set of images are the Garden Street Presbyterian Church (where First Farmers bank stands today), the Kroger Piggly Wiggly (building in use by First Farmers), the American Eagle limestone sculpture that adorns the façade by artist Sidney Waugh (a WPA artwork), and the CHS Band led by director Tom Hewgley.
We are still doing some research to learn all of the names of the speakers and attendees for the ceremony. We are also working on identifying the years and makes of some of the cool cars that are in many of the shots. As always, we invite you to participate and help us with this task. No doubt many of you auto aficionados could easily pick out the Dodges from the Packards from the grills alone.
You can see the photos by clicking here