U.S. Post Office
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Why it's listed
Built between 1909 and 1911 at the corner of Hay and Maxwell streets, Fayetteville's former main post office is a one-story, five-bay brick building in the Neo-Classical Revival style. A central entrance with a double door, transom and ornamented surround, along with quoins, dentil and modillion cornice rows and a roofline balustrade, gives the front its character. The lot was transferred to the federal government in 1907 by the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry. A daily construction diary and monthly photographs survive and record close supervision, rejected materials and weather delays. The post office opened in April 1911 and was extended to the rear in 1935 as the city grew. After a new federal building opened in the mid-1960s, the Hay Street building became the Frances Brooks Stein Branch of the Cumberland County Library System in 1970. It is considered the first of three Neo-Classical Revival buildings downtown and one of few pre-1912 North Carolina post offices still serving the public.
Significance in brief: It is a local example of Neo-Classical Revival public architecture from the early twentieth century, and the first of three such buildings in downtown Fayetteville. Its construction is unusually well documented by a daily diary and monthly photographs. It is also one of the few pre-1912 post offices in North Carolina still in public use.
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 83001873, listed July 7, 1983. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 301 Hay St., Fayetteville |
|---|---|
| County | Cumberland County |
| Listed | July 7, 1983 |
| Reference number | 83001873 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1909-1911 |
| Architect / builder | Architect/builder unknown; the 1935 addition was built by Upchurch Construction Company of Atlanta, Georgia, with C.W. Stone, Superintendent of Architecture, and Evan A. Lyon, Construction Engineer |
| Architectural style | Neo-Classical Revival |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied and in public use as the Frances Brooks Stein Branch of the Cumberland County Library System since 1970. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | Fayetteville Downtown Historic District |
| Coordinates | 35.05348, -78.88115 (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.
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 83001873.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q18217560
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.