 |
 |
 |
| BURNT CORN, ALABAMA | |
|
|
 |
|
 Postal service started in Burnt Corn in 1817 and ended in 1997. Congress officially approved the postal route in Burnt Corn in 1818. The Burnt Corn post office was located in the Lowery Store in 1936. The Burnt Corn post office was one of oldest post offices in the United States.The closing of the Burnt Corn became the "Second Battle of Burnt Corn." Resident massed a full fledged protest against the U. S. Postal Service in an effort to keep the old post office open. Mrs. Pearl Salter, was the General leading the fight to save the Burnt Corn post office. There were many months of town hall meeting and demonstrations and even lobbying postal officials and elected officals in Washington D.C. Pearl petitioned the NAACP as well because 90% of the residents served by the post office in Burnt Corn were African Americans. The protest gained national attention from the media across America. This even captured the attention of CNN. Postal officals argued that the post office had to be closed because it had no handicapped access as required by federal law. They cited the fact that the Burnt Corn post office was no later profitable to operate. A postal offical cited that in 1993 the post office generated $5,803.91 by 1995 it had dropped to $4,658.22. The cost to operate the post office was $14,339.00 per year. However, the battle was lost and the post office was closed in 1997, despite print and electonic newscast, protest, and lobbying to post officals and politicians. Some residents wore black on that eventfully day of the decommissioniung of the histroic post office and a giant black bow was placed on the door. Mr. Sam Lowery was the last offical postmaster of the Burnt Corn post office. Ray Welch served as interim postmaster until it closed in 1997. The sign of post office still remain on the Lowery Store.
Postmasters of the Burnt Corn Post Office were as follow:
|
