In the early 1940's, a woman could not be a United States Postmaster. They could work there, and they could do everything a Postmaster would do, but on paper it had to be a man's name. So when Annie, who had run the Sunside, NY Post Office for years and years, became too old to uphold the station that her husband had been appointed by our government, she looked to Lester W. Simpson to take over that role.
The Sunside post office was being run out of Annie's house (shown as it looks today).
The house is a collection of rooms that was a simple federal style two story house that was added on to several times over the years. Originally built in the 1870's, the house had collected a larger kitchen, additional bedrooms, and an enclosure over the stacked stone well to allow water to be hand pumped at the kitchen sink year round without fear of freezing. The front room of this house in the oldest section was set up with an entrance area, a gated separator "fence" and a desk for Annie to run the postal business.
Since Annie's house was no place for a post office, it made sense to move it. What didn't make sense is that it moved into the tiny cabin that Annie rented on her property to Lester and his new wife. Barely 400 square feet, the cabin was carved into 4 rooms, and one of them was reserved for the new post office. So, with one bedroom, one sitting room, one "postal" room, and the last room divided again into a bathroom and kitchen, this was life for the new Postmaster and his lovely bride.
Soon, another woman would serve the role that her husband had on paper, as WWII disrupted life for the Simpson's... but that will wait for the next installment.
