Glacier, WA community rallies to keep historic post office open

GLACIER, Wash. - In the shadow of Mount Baker, the small town of Glacier is fighting to keep its century-old post office alive.

The U.S. Postal Service has stopped accepting outgoing mail, leaving residents worried their only connection to essential deliveries could soon disappear.

"It’s like all of a sudden, it’s going to be gone and with no advanced notice, no nothing," said longtime resident Jan Eskola, who’s lived in Glacier for 50 years. "I’m very concerned that they’re going to close the post office."

For Eskola and her neighbors, the closure would mean nearly an hour-long round trip to Deming just to pick up mail or send a package. "We have no home mail service," she said. "Anybody who lives up the highway, they have to come here."

More than mail, it's a community hub

The Glacier Post Office isn’t just a place to send letters — it’s the town’s heartbeat. The flagpole and handwritten sign out front mark a gathering place where residents swap stories and keep tabs on one another.

"When the mail comes in, it’s a place where we all congregate and talk," Eskola said. "It’s our community connection."

Inside, Ellen Baker from the Glacier Water District points out rows of antique mailboxes — more than 200 still in use.

The aging outpost itself has served as the town’s hall for more than a century.

A free home for the Postal Service

The Glacier Water District has owned the post office building since the 1970s— and Baker says in all that time it has never charged the Postal Service a dime to use it.

"For it to be here, it’s just gratis," she explained. "We do it for the community."

Even so, USPS recently stopped package deliveries to the site.

"I don’t know if there’s any packages left at this point because they stopped delivering last week," Baker said. "Christmas is right around the corner."

She believes the service is a moneymaker that still turns a profit for USPS through postage, money orders and box rentals. The only paid worker is part-time, earning close to minimum wage.

USPS has not responded to FOX 13 Seattle’s request for comment.

Residents left without answers

Baker said she’s frustrated that no one from USPS has offered a clear explanation.

"The U.S. Postal Service did not investigate the impacts," argued Baker.

The shift came after the recent death of the longtime clerk who had kept the office running for two hours each day. Without her, operations halted almost overnight.

"They had attempted to close it in the past," recalled Baker. "But there was public outcry."

That outcry has begun again. Locals gathered Monday afternoon outside the old town hall in protest, holding signs calling for the post office to remain open.

Glacier’s residents say their town isn’t fading away, it’s growing.

"I know we’re too small to have a gas station," said Mike Baxter. "But really there’s more full-time residents now than there ever was thirty years ago."

Baxter, who lives with multiple sclerosis, says traveling to another post office isn’t an option for many especially those with mobility limitations like him.

"It’s hard enough for me just to get up the ramp and in the box where it’s only ten feet away," he said. "It seems like a slap in the face to Glacier."

Baxter points out its not just homeowners impacted, local businesses rely on the post office to ship and receive packages, especially during the holidays.

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