Post Office

Post Offices of down town Cocoa Florida; history, lore and related trivia

Prior to an established post office the lore is that the mail was kept in a trunk under a bed and was rescued from fire and may now be at the Brevard Museum of History & Natural Science. Many locations later the newest location of the Post Office is at the corner of Orange and Florida Avenue as of July 2007.

Two articles from the December 14, 1939 Cocoa Tribune are a good reference for the earlier histories: "History of the post office in the city of cocoa is Given - Twelve Have served Here as Postmasters" and "Trunk Served as The first Post office In community." The following information was obtained from these articles:

The Cocoa Post Office was established September 11, 1884 with William B. Smith as the Postmaster.

Some of the post office locations as listed (note the listings suggest to be in chronological order, but they may not be, and the listings make references to locations at the time of the article):

• A small residence on King Street just west of the city hall building (1939 city hall)
• A small wooden building at the corner of Willard and Brevard avenue occupied in 1939 by the brick building of Mrs. Virginia Jones (this building was still standing just west of the store building as of 1939).
• A coquina building at the corner of Harrison and Brevard. The present site of the Aviles Building (present site as of 1939)
• In the front part of the then store of the Travis company corner of King and Brevard Avenue.
• The then H. C. Eyer Building, now occupied by the Weathers bar corner King and Brevard Avenue (note this was  as of 1939)
• The brick building now occupied as an office by East Coast Lumber & Supply company on Willard Street (note this was as of 1939)
•  The old City Hall building on Willard Street, occupied by the American Legion as of 1939
• The south part of the Masonic Temple building, occupied by Piggly Wiggly as of 1939
• Location on Magnolia Street.  This may have been in the small building we today call the Magnolia Mall at 12 Stone street, but that is not know as fact.
• (It is known by later sources the Post Office Moved to 435 Brevard Avenue in May 1940, later to Orange Avenue and then July of 2007 to Florida Avenue.)

As of December 1939 twelve citizens were listed as Postmaster (the article appears to recount same individual when promoted from acting position):

• William B. smith, appointed September 11, 1884
• Robert N. Andrews, January 8, 1887
• James T. Bassett, March 23, 1893
• Maynard M. Mcleod, May 19, 1893
• Charles J. Schoonmaker, June 9, 1897
• James A. Haisten, January 18, 1916
• Henry L. Maxwell (acting), September 9, 1920
• Oakley K. Key, October 7, 1921 (Raised to second class.)
• Edward N. Winslow (acting), July 15, 1925
• Edward N. Winslow, March 11, 1926
• Lewis S. Andrews (acting), January 1, 1934
• Lewis S. Andres, August 9, 1935

Here is an excerpt from the article "Trunk Served as The first Post office In community" on the same page of the December 14, 1939 Cocoa Tribune:

"  Believe it or not, a very small trunk, now on display in The Tribune office, served as the first post office in this community. The trunk, now owned by Russell Dixon, of Cocoa, was owned by his grandmother the later Mrs. N. J. Dixon, who was post mistress of Magnolia Point, located about tow miles north of the business section on the Indian River.
  According to Mr. Russell Dixon, his grandmother was postmistress from about 1870 to 1880, the post office was in the log cabin home of his grandparents. Mail was brought here down the St. Johns River to Poinsett Landing, and was carried to magnolia Pointe, where Mrs. Dixon kept it and the stamps she had for sale, in the small trunk. During the big fire that destroyed everything in the vicinity of Magnolia Ponte, in March, 1876, the trunk with its mail and stamps was saved by Mrs. Dixon who took it into the Indian River , while the home was burning, to keep the mail of the pioneers from burning with it. History records that the small trunk was the only thing saved. Mrs. Dixon retired from the position as postmistress when the post offices at City Pointe and Cocoa were designated.
  In the days when Mrs. Dixon was postmistress the settlers traveled mainly by sailboat. They would go to Magnolia Pointe and pick up their mail and leave other mail for dispatching by the next boat north. Those were the days when mails were important contact with the outside world.
  Mrs. Dixon was the mother of the late Adam S. and Zack Dixon, and R. L. and Will Dixon, who are pioneers of this section."

Images and information about more recent locations:

The postcard picture shows a view of the old town hall on Willard Street.  The public school and the Post Office use to be at this location.

Post card view of Town Hall on Willard Street

Masonic Building, view from Brevard Avenue.
Picture may not be from same time period when Post Office resided.

The 1926/1927 Cocoa City Directory lists the post office at the address of 10 Magnolia Street in  the Masonic Temple Building.  That location is likely the same small storefront to the left of the stair entrance that today looks out on the gazebo.

  The same 1926/1927 directory Masonic Building had listings on Magnolia Street and also on Brevard Avenue. Even present day the same building has multiple addresses on Stone Street and Brevard Avenue.  The Cocoa Bank and Trust was listed as 311 Brevard, The addresses 313, 315, and 317 on Brevard are also associated with the Masonic Building.
  Magnolia Street in later years was renamed Stone Street in honor of Richard Stone. The late Mr. Stone founded Stone Funeral Home in Cocoa and was active in community civil rights.
  The section of street between Brevard Court and Brevard Avenue was closed and the local Rotary Club built the Myrtice Tharpe Square landmark with a gazebo and pedestrian area.
  As late as the 1990's during an address survey a postal worker was very surprised  to be told by tenants that 313 Brevard was the lower floor, 315 the suites on the middle floor and 317 the upper floor. She also discovered that the little store front for the same building looking on the gazebo was listed on a different street, 10 Stone street. Today 311 Brevard is not the Masonic Building and is used for the storefront that was created by  adding a second entrance on Brevard Avenue to the the south part of the building at 305 Brevard Avenue.  What happened to 307 and 309 Brevard Avenue could be a future mystery question since presently the USPS zip code generator lists them as undeliverable!

On July 2, 1938 the Treasury and Post Office Departments announced an award of $70,000 for building a post office building in Cocoa.  An article in the Cocoa Tribune noted that the city had two sites available. The article only listed the site that was later picked at the corner of Brevard and Orange as one block south of the existing post office in the existing Post Office. That property was owned by Mr. E. Wuesthoff according a Tribune article. Another Tribune article stated that the selected lot was originally the former home site of the late Dr. L.T. Daniel and Mrs. Daniel and their family known as "Daniel Park," and was accepted for purchase price of $3,500.

The building was completed and occupied May of 1940 by then Postmaster L. S. Andrews and personnel.

This "Federal" Building  and the 0.38 acres of land was later used by other government organizations till about 1997 when the the City of Cocoa obtained and held it for about a year and then it was purchased by the Florida Historical Society April 2004

Post Office at 435 Brevard Avenue

View of Post Office on Orange Avenue the summer or 2005

View of the post office building on Orange being demolished,
June 2006.

The Post Office  location at 32 Orange Street was completed by the end of 1965 and dedicated January 15, 1966.”  Of interest the land was owned by the city, but the building was said to have been leased to the Post Office by a lawyer who financed the construction and many years later the City of Cocoa RDA#1 project had the opportunity and bought the building at about the same time the Gazebo area was under renovation around 2005(?) causing delays because the changes in funding priority.

The roof had a lot of problems leading up to being abandoned circa 2006.  While waiting for a replacement branch office, patrons had to go to the Post Office near the Beach Line to retrieve their mail from the post office boxes. The building was demolished during June and July of 2007. The location prior to the post office was referred by locals as Daniel Park:

The northeast corner of Orange Street and Brevard Court in an area known as Daniel Park, directly west, across Brevard Court from the old Cocoa Post Office in the WPA building  that faced Brevard Avenue (now the Tebeau-Field Florida Historical Library.)  was used for the Cocoa Shuffleboard Courts, a favorite gathering place for winter tourist  from the late 30s through 1964. Behind the court's Shelter was the USO Club that served Naval Personnel from the Banana River Naval Air Station, now Patrick AFB. It was completed early in 1942 at a cost of $10,000. After WW II it was used as the Cocoa Youth Center for dances, parties, etc. It later became the City of Cocoa Public Library until the middle of March 1965, when both the shuffleboard courts and the library were demolished to make way for a new US Post Office at 32 Orange Street.

Discussions at City meetings during 2007 suggest that the property may be used as a municipal parking with temporary paving pending a future building with stores at ground level and a parking garage.  If you have notes or links on the usage please contact the webmaster for clarification here.

Today the present downtown Cocoa office was labeled as the "Cocoa Village Station" and located at the corner of Orange and Florida avenue with the address of 600 Florida Avenue in the building called by the builders the "Orange Street Tower." The Opening of the "Cocoa Village" station was scheduled for the middle of July 2007.

On the door the full service Hours are listed as Monday through Friday 9am to 4pm and closed Saturday, Sunday and holidays.  Self service hours are listed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Post Office at 600 Florida Avenue.

REFERENCES:

• Images from the Florida Historical Society and the Mosquito Beaters.
• Brevard County Appraiser website
• Cocoa Tribune July 2, 1938. December 14, 1939, and November 1940.
• Gene Baird's answer to the July-August 2001 Mystery Photograph
• Speedy Harrell, Mosquito Beaters
• Cocoa City Directory 1926/1927
• Quote by Veronica Jenkins, NAACP, in HomeTown News.
• Nick Wynne, FHS
• Paul Pruett, past tenant of the Village Tower (Masonic Building.)