Newcastle's post office: Part V

Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent
With Leonard Cash
 
For the past month, historian Leonard Cash has taken us through the history of Newcastle’s post office, and he finishes the series in this week’s installment of “History on Main.” 
According to the April 5, 1962, issue of the News Letter Journal, two parking meters were removed for the installation of a drive-up mail box. Police Chief L.J. Prell requested the “cooperation of drivers concerning the area” and asked them not to abandon their cars when parked in the “red zone.” 
Cash’s records from May 23, 1963, reported the death of Michael Koski Sr., who was at the Weston County Memorial Hospital. His funeral services were held at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, where he was a member. 
Koski was born on Sept. 25, 1882, in Strawkova, Poland. He went to school in Omaha, Neb., and later became a rope-rider in Cambria before marrying Severa Pzinski in Four Corners in 1909, and they moved to Newcastle in 1921, where he served as the post office custodian until 1947. Koski was also involved as a “past master of Eagles, Knights of Pythias and Izaak Walton League.”
Post office customers were instructed in the Nov. 19, 1964, issue of the News Letter to turn in their post office box keys because new boxes had come in and were to be installed “at once,” according to Koski. Patrons were to be issued two new sets of keys without charge; however, if patrons failed to turn in both sets of old keys, a fine of $50 would be levied, reported the Nov. 26, 1964, paper. 
Around Sept. 23, 1965, the post office purchased a new stamp machine, which dispensed four- and five-cent stamps to customers, so they wouldn’t have to go to the window.
“Persons are urged to use the machine to prevent congestion at the service window,” the article says. 
Almost three years later, post office clerk Arthur Sundstrom retired on April 30, 1968, after “more than 32 years of active continuous service,” according to an article from May 23, 1968. Sundstrom started out as a substitute clerk in 1935, before he was promoted to the regular position in 1942. 
Another retirement was reported on June 3, 1971. Post office custodian William F. Anderson retired on May 31, where he’d been serving since 1948. 
Postmaster Koski was soon to follow the pattern of retirement. His final day at the post office was on Dec. 30, 1972, and the Dec. 14, 1972, article gave a brief biography on Koski. 
As mentioned earlier, he served in the military, including the Machine Gun Troop, when he “was inducted into federal service in February, 1940, with the Wyoming National Guard’s 115th Cavalry at Fort Lewis Wash.” After coming back to Newcastle after World War II, he was a bookkeeper and salesman at Toomey’s Mill, and he was Newcastle’s postmaster beginning in 1951.
After Koski retired, John S. “Stew” Berdahl came to fill his void, according to the May 17, 1973, paper, when he was sworn in by Casper Postmaster Emerck Huber, the sectional center facility manager. 
Berdahl started working at the post office in 1947 and served under former postmasters Graham, Robinson and Koski. He became the assistant postmaster in 1969 and the “officer in charge” in 1972. He also served in the Navy and married Jeanette Kline. They had four children. 
The paper reported on June 21, 1973, that Berdahl’s brother Erick was appointed the assistant postmaster by Robert Nab, district manager of United States Postal Service. His position was effective on June 9, but he had been in the postal service long before then because he was a substitute clerk in 1949 and a regular clerk in 1971. He also became a stamp supply clerk in spring of 1972 and was the acting assistant postmaster by the end of the year. 
Additionally, he was on the Board of Civil Service Examiners in 1955, and in 1966, he became “examiner in charge” and served there “until present time.” Erick Berdahl and his wife, Helen, had five children. 
Cash’s records from June 24, 1982, reveal that customers were instructed to use the drop box in the alley because the one on Seneca Street was temporarily being removed due to a construction project by NewWest Construction of Newcastle.
“New concrete will be poured on the Seneca Street sidewalk and the circular walkway going into the front door. New storm windows and screens will be installed,” the article says. 
In an article from Oct. 17, 1985, titled “Post Office May Become Historic Site,” the U.S. Postal Service nominated Newcastle’s post office to be put on the National Register of Historic Places.
“The nomination is being made in conjunction with the Wyoming State Historic Preservation office in Cheyenne,” the article says. Mayor Andy Nelson told the post office he concurred with the decision.