{"nrhp_refnum":"09000307","name":"Bay City Post Office","other_names":["Matagorda County Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2100 Ave. F","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bay City","county":"Matagorda County","state":"TX","lat":28.984790676000046,"lon":-95.97025832299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-05-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story buff brick and limestone Neoclassical post office on a raised basement at 2100 Avenue F in Bay City, Matagorda County, Texas, built 1917-1918 to a design by Supervising Architect James A. Wetmore and now used as a museum.","why_significant":"It was Matagorda County's first federal building and a good example of the standardized small-town post offices produced by the U.S. Treasury Department in the 1910s. Its Neoclassical Revival design reflects federal building policy of the period. It also served the community as a post office for 71 years and as a meeting place, draft board site and storm refuge.","narrative":"Built in 1917-1918 at 2100 Avenue F in Bay City, this one-story post office was Matagorda County's first federal building. James A. Wetmore, the U.S. Treasury's Supervising Architect, designed it from standardized plans, and W.B. Lovell of Minneapolis served as contractor. Buff brick walls rise from a raised basement, and a pedimented portico on four Tuscan columns marks the entrance. A large Palladian window faces the street on the north side, and a balustrade hides the clerestory above the lobby. Inside, the lobby keeps its terrazzo floor, cypress paneling and some original postal boxes. A sympathetic addition and loading dock were added in 1958, and the Postal Service left in 1989. The Matagorda County Museum Association bought the building in 1990 and opened a museum there in 1992. The building is recognized for its role in local government and for its Neoclassical design, which reflects federal post office standards of the 1910s.","period_of_significance":"1917-1958","architect_builder":"James A. Wetmore, supervising architect; W.B. Lovell, contractor","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Neoclassical/Georgian Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Houses the Matagorda County Museum, which opened in 1992 after the Postal Service moved out in 1989.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.654393-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/62/9729/40972962/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/09000307.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000307/a94ee81b67-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000307/a94ee81b67-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"25or6to4","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bay_City_Post_Office,_Bay_City,_Texas.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">25or6to4</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bay_City_Post_Office,_Bay_City,_Texas.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972962","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107318157"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/matagorda-county/bay-city-post-office-09000307/"}