English: Caption reads “The amount of business transacted in her Federal building attests the steady advance of Columbus' commercial interests. Month after month the official figures continue to grow. The volume is so great that the completion of the post office has become an immediate necessity. The United States courts convene there. The United States pension bureau of Ohio has its headquarters there. It is the largest state pension bureau in the country. Its annual disbursements reach $16,000,000. There are 104,000 veterans on its rolls. One western agency exceeds this by a small margin; it embraces, however, three states and three territories. With one exception there is no other city in the United States which has so much space for its post office as Columbus. The present stone structure occupies one-half the allotted ground. It was completed in 1887 at a cost of $300,000. The first post office in Columbus was established in 1813. Mathew Matthews was her first post master. In 1873 letter carriers, ten in number, were first appointed. The post office was removed to rooms in the City Hall, fitted up by private citizens, at an expense of $4,000, in 1874. It was removed several years later to temporary quarters on the site of the present Y.M.C.A. building. The prospects for one of the largest and most complete offices being built by the government shortly are bright, in view of the increasing emergency.”
Notes
"The United State Post Office and Government Building was constructed in 1884-1887. It was remodeled and enlarged to the south in 1907-1912."