{"nrhp_refnum":"88002464","name":"US Post Office-Canajoharie","other_names":["Canajoharie Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"50 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Canajoharie","county":"Montgomery County","state":"NY","lat":42.906570593000026,"lon":-74.56104299499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-11-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story brick post office at 50 West Main Street in the central business district of Canajoharie, Montgomery County, New York, built in 1937 to a Treasury Department design under Supervising Architect Louis A. Simon.","why_significant":"It is an intact example of Depression-era federal architecture in the Colonial Revival style, built from a standardized plan used for thirteen nearly identical post offices in New York State. It also holds a well-preserved 1942 mural by Anatol Shulkin, commissioned by the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts, depicting the invention of the paper bag in Canajoharie.","narrative":"This one-story brick post office at 50 West Main Street in Canajoharie was built in 1937 on a site formerly used as a lumber yard and later a garage and storage yard, beside the filled-in Erie Canal bed. Designed under Treasury Supervising Architect Louis A. Simon and built by Vanguard Construction Corporation, it follows a standard plan used for thirteen nearly identical post offices across New York State. The Colonial Revival design has a symmetrical front, a gable roof with a square cupola, a denticulated wooden cornice, and an entrance framed by fluted Doric columns and a blind fanlight holding a cast aluminum eagle. Inside, an L-shaped lobby retains tile floors, plaster walls and original screenline sections. A 1942 mural by Anatol Shulkin shows James Arkell presenting his paper bag to townspeople during the Civil War. The building was recognized for its intact Depression-era federal architecture and for this locally themed artwork.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific dates 1937; 1942)","architect_builder":"Treasury Department; Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect; Vanguard Construction Corporation of New York City (general contractor)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Form lists the building as occupied, in good condition, with a high degree of integrity on the exterior and interior; present use is government.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:46.151872-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/88002464.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002464/974a6e582d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002464/974a6e582d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Photographer: Mr. Joshua Adam Thomas","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Post_Office_Mural,_Canajoharie,_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Photographer: Mr. Joshua Adam Thomas</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Post_Office_Mural,_Canajoharie,_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313690","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office_(Canajoharie,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7890918"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/montgomery-county/us-post-office-canajoharie-88002464/"}