SHUTESBURY — Around the holidays each year, Carla Footit remembers her mother, the town’s postmaster for 34 years, dealing with a flurry of activity right up until Christmas Eve.
That’s when Mary Dihlmann would call some residents to let them know their packages, likely containing last-minute presents that needed to be wrapped, had arrived and were ready for pick up at the 8 Wendell Road site. She instructed these customers to come to the main door of her home, located within the same building as the U.S. post office.
“We would never set up our Christmas tree until that evening because my Mom was so exhausted,” Footit says.
The post office at that time was carved out of Dihlmann’s General Store, where hot chocolate would be served to patrons on the coldest days and which became a hub of activity for visitors each Memorial Day weekend. That’s when Lake Wyola came alive for the season and people stopped by to get flashlights, rope and other necessities.
“All the wonderful things people needed,” Footit said.
Now, some 60 years later, Footit, who said she learned hard work as a child by making sure floors were mopped and cleaned late on Saturday nights, drops by to get her mail and also interact with staff.
These memories, which continue to come alive in the space, may be lost if the U.S. Postal Service follows through with its decision to suspend operations in Shutesbury at the close of business on June 6.
“I come in and still feel my mother’s spirit in here,” Footit said, as she looks around at the mix of historic and newer post office boxes lining the walls of the main lobby, before dialing the combination of her box that she long ago memorized, and then pulls out her mail.
Like many Shutesbury residents, Footit found about the decision from a letter taped to the entry door window, a decision that transfers all business, including the post office boxes, to the Leverett Post Office. The letter, from Matthew Weir, manager of post office operations, states that the decision was made because postal officials were unable to renew the lease on the building that expired on April 30, 2024.
Already, town officials have begun outreach to the community, with a page on the town website and distribution at annual Town Meeting of community impact statements that people can use to convey their comments.
There have also been conversations with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and the American Postal Workers Union about preserving the post office for ZIP code 01072.
What is unclear is if the lack of a lease is being used an excuse or whether this is a real problem, said Town Administrator Hayley Bolton. But for now, the advocacy through the community impact statements is critical.
“I can speak to how vital the service is for local residents, how it’s a community gathering space, and how its loss would adversely affect residents’ ability to receive communication, legal notices, prescription deliveries, and notices from the town,” Bolton said.
Bolton said there are questions about whether the decision violates Title 29, Section 101 of the U.S. code, which requires a 60-day notice to the town and a mandatory appeals process, which appear to have been bypassed.
Many of those who are longtime residents have post office boxes because it’s unsafe for them to have mailboxes at the end of their driveways, or are in remote area of town. The post office boxes are both inside the building, as well as outside and undercover next to the small parking lot.
Michele Regan-Ladd, who dropped in Tuesday afternoon, said she’s had a box since the mid-1980s.
“It’s sad,” Regan-Ladd said. “I come here every day, also talk to the postal worker, it’s just part of the routine.”
If she continues to have a post office box, she said she dreads the possible daily drive to Leverett. “To have to go to Leverett, that’s going to be 9 to 9½ miles,” Regan-Ladd said.
“I’m very upset,” says Holly Armitage.
But Armitage adds this is not unexpected, as there have been recent changes in how mail is delivered, with the mail coming from Amherst, rather than being processed in town, and that some items, visible in photos on a post office app, don’t physically show up right away.
“They didn’t seem to deliver through long chunks of winter weather,” Armitage said. She said the explanation was the risky conditions for drivers and the vehicles.
Armitage said she is concerned that the looming closure may have been a cost-savings decision by the postmaster general for the United States that will deprive a rural community of something it should be guaranteed as Americans.
“I don’t think the USPS should be a for-profit organization, it’s a service to the United States and they shouldn’t take that away from us,” Armitage said.
“As a senior citizen, this will be a hardship,” said Mary David, who was also there to get mail inside. “It is going to be a significant burden on the senior population.”
But mail remains important for all generations.
Tim Johnson, who recently moved to Shutesbury from New Jersey, works from home on Leverett Road, about a mile away. The convenience of the post office and being able to pick up packages is priceless, especially this past winter given the amount of snow.
“It’s a bummer,” Johnson said. “It’s been very easy to come here to pick up mail, especially during the wintertime.”
As one with an outdoor post office box, his will move to the Leverett Post Office.
Ironically, the Leverett Post Office was briefly on the chopping block in early 2011, but that decision was reversed prior to a planned community meeting. At that time, Leverett residents were being told their post office boxes and service would be shifted to Sunderland.
But it’s also physical space people will miss. The post office is in a building with rental units these days, and Town Hall, the Shutesbury Community Church and Old Town Hall all help make up town center.
Former Town Clerk Leslie Bracebridge, who serves on the Historical Commission, has an album filled with information about Dihlmann’s General Store, showing the building with a small service station where people could fill up their gas tanks.
“I’m sad, and I think that’s shared,” Bracebridge said.
Bracebridge notes that while Shutesbury’s post office may not be the busiest in existence, it gets a fair share of other business, such as those who commute through town center, many heading to the University of Massachusetts campus from points to the east.
The feedback Bolton said is senior citizens and those who are disabled rely on getting medication through the mail. The anticipation is not having a post office will also be problematic during the winter. While the Leverett post office is less than 6 miles away, getting there means heading down the S-curves.
“They feel like it’s incredibly unfair to make that commute when others don’t have to,” Bolton said.
Employees at Town Hall will also be affected. “This will have a real tangible impact on town operations,” Bolton said.
While the post office has moved before, notably when Mary Dihlmann began her tenure in 1954, it’s uncertain whether there are other options for where the operation could be located.
The nearby M.N Spear Library, across the town green from the post office, has been vacant since late last year when the new Shutesbury Public Library opened, though that doesn’t have running water and even bringing up to code, it may be insufficient in size for the needs.
But Bolton said that there are also mobile units that are supposed to be used in contingency situations when a regular post office is out of commission.
Whatever happens going forward, Bolton said this will not make life easier for residents.
“It’s just a burden for people,” Bolton said.
