09/25/2026
We are not sure we have every historical detail correct, but from what we have been able to gather, the historic lamp posts in front of the Mineola Post Office building/Historical Museum had not been lit since around the mid-1980’s. The original 1937-style globes had apparently broken and were not replaced. When the city purchased the building in 1999 we hoped pieces of the original broken globe might still be in the building giving us an idea of what the original looked like and dimensions but no luck. Twenty-seven years have gone by since the old Post Office building became a museum and last year the lamp posts were taken down, repaired, rewired, repainted, and powder coated, restoring them back to their original 1937 appearance. BUT finding the original style globe proved to be a much bigger challenge. For almost a year, we searched for Post Office buildings built during the time period as ours. We found one in Anson, Texas, outside of Abilene built the same year as ours and amazingly, had the same style lamp posts and globes. After reaching out and talking to the Postmaster and explaining what we were trying to accomplish, the Postmaster GENEROUSLY loaned us one of their globes. That one globe became the pattern we needed to finally have our own globes replicated. After contacting several local and surrounding area companies, we were told they could not duplicate the globes. So, we go further out and found a company in Seattle Washington that would do it for us. In six weeks we had our new 1937-style globes custom made for the museum and you better believe we had several made for back up. We are EXTREMELY grateful for the Anson Post Office for entrusting us with one of their globes, understanding our need and trusting us to carefully safeguard it and allowing us to use it as the pattern for ours. We definitely took great care of this little piece of their history. A VERY SPECIAL thank you to Robbie Ballard with Yellow Jacket Welding & Metal Works for the outstanding work he did restoring the lamp posts. Robbie takes great pride in his work and it’s always special to see local craftsmen use their talent to help preserve the history of the community they love. Who knew an old globe could cause so much searching, traveling, calling, emailing and persistence? But after many, many years the Old Post Office now a Museum finally have their GLOW back and we think they look pretty good for almost 90 years old!!!
