Springfield Then & Now: The first Federal building, first a post office and later a school

In the summer of 1887, the Springfield Daily Republic published the plans for a new government building, the Post Office, which would become the first Federal building in Springfield.

It was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by Charles Cregar, a Springfield native who also designed St. John’s Lutheran Church, the Clark County Courthouse, St. Raphael’s Catholic Church, and the City Building and Marketplace (today the Heritage Center).

Credit: HANDOUT

The Post Office was completed in 1890 and is shown above in the 1920s.

After the current post office opened in 1932, the building was purchased in 1938 by St. Raphael’s for grades 1-8.

Classes were discontinued in the late 1950s when the new Catholic Central High School was completed and the building stood unused until 1970 when it was torn down to make way for the Spring Street overpass.

Today, the space is empty and used as overflow parking for St. Raphael’s Catholic Church.

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