Old Post Office
Why it's listed
Standing at the corner of Main and South Main Streets in Oneonta, this post office was announced in 1913 and completed in 1915 to designs by Oscar Wenderoth. The nearly square, seven-bay building is faced in Indiana limestone with Concord granite trim and rises two stories above a full basement. A giant portico with six Greek Corinthian columns marks the front, and Greek Corinthian pilasters divide the sides. A low brick wing for a loading dock was added at the rear in the 1950s. Inside, a long marble and wood service counter echoes the arched windows, and the two-story sorting room has a surveillance bridge. Oneonta grew as a railroad center after 1869, and its public buildings reflect that prosperity. Urban Renewal removed much of the older Main Street, and the post office was once slated for demolition before public protest saved it. It is the least altered of the city's older public buildings and has no equal in the county for scale and quality.
Significance in brief: The building is a major local landmark that dominates the downtown streetscape and reflects the prosperity of Oneonta, a railroad and commercial hub, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is the least changed and most imposing of the city's older public buildings. The nomination argues that no other structure of its style and period in the county equals it in scale and quality, giving it regional architectural significance.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 78001895, listed November 17, 1978. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Main St., Oneonta |
|---|---|
| County | Otsego County |
| Listed | November 17, 1978 |
| Reference number | 78001895 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1915 |
| Architect / builder | Oscar Wenderoth |
| Architectural style | Neoclassical |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed as unoccupied and in good condition, owned by the City of Oneonta, which was considering reuse for municipal offices and jail facilities. |
| Acreage | 0.5 |
| Within district | Oneonta Downtown Historic District |
| Coordinates | 42.45486, -75.06017 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 78001895.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7084769
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.