FOLSOMVILLE, Ind. - The closet-sized post office at this tiny community is no more, Gone, too, is ZIP code 47614.
"People were crying ... when they first heard the news," said Karen Conner, 67, who ran the office for the last nine years. "Our ZIP code is gone forever. It makes people sentimental."
She said the closing of what was reputed to be the second smallest post office in America is because of structural concerns. The gas fireplace for the 30-year-old building isn't vented, and there are issues with the roof.
"A big thing is that our fuse box is in the lobby, and it shouldn't be," she said.
"They're afraid a little kid could pull on it."
The post office in Folsomville -- population about 100 -- was open from 8 a.m. until noon Monday through Saturday. It sold its last stamp in mid October.
"All our equipment will go to the regional facility in Louisville (Ky.)," Conner said. "Some of what we have can be used at other post offices."
On a recent day, Conner sold only about eight or 10 books of 20 stamps, "but I do a pretty good business in money orders and a lot of packages go out to our soldier boys."
A post office in Tennyson, Ind., six miles away will absorb Folsomville's mail flow. Elizabeth Small, 47, manages that facility.
She was at Folsomville on a recent afternoon to help Conner clean the shelves, box supplies and sweep the floor.
Conner has been told that the only facility smaller than Folsomville's 9-by-13-foot facility was one deep in Florida's Everglades.
"I had 18 people who had their own mail slots inside the post office. I don't know whether Florida has fewer than that or not," Conner said.
Conner likens her community to fictional Mayberry of the old "Andy Griffith Show."
"Let's say somebody in the area dies," she said. "I'd put my little candy jar in the lobby to collect money for flowers. I'd almost always get between $20 and $25. That's just the way my customers are.
"There's another way it's like Mayberry. This office is too small for a bathroom, so I have the key to the fire station's restroom."
Her last duty was to present the post office's books to a regional inspector. Conner isn't sure of her future plans.
Small, the Tennyson postal manager described the now-closed Folsomville office as the hub of the community.
"It was the community meeting place. This was where you went in the morning to find out who was having a yard sale," Small said.
Years ago, Folsomville had a doctor's office, several stores and an elementary school. Now there's just the fire station and two churches.
"This was a popular place to live when the strip mines were going strong," Conner said. "But now, they're long gone."
Conner suspects the post office's closing "was on the agenda for a long time."
"Maybe the reason we held out for so long is because there's such a history here. It's definitely not because of our customers. Some people came here all the way from Boonville because of our service. We'll be greatly missed here. I know that for sure."
Marsha and Kermit Byram live about a mile from the Folsomville post office.
"When I'm giving directions, I tell people the building looks like an outhouse," Marsha Byram said, grinning. "It's like an outhouse, too, because you have to go in one at a time."
"I'll miss the convenience of having our own post office," Kermit Byram said.
"It was about the last thing around here that still said 'Folsomville.' Our community has definitely lost some of its identity."
(Contact Garret Mathews of The Evansville Courier in Indiana at XX(at)xxx.com.)
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