The current Ipswich Post Office was built in 1939 with U.S. Treasury funds.

Preparing to pour the concrete floor. In the background is Hammat St. Photo courtesy of Jane Conley.

Floor laid down, looking across Market St. to Union St. Photo courtesy of Jane Conley.

Preparing to add the roof. Photo courtesy of Jane Conley.

At the location of the Caldwell building next to the Choate Bridge there once stood a large mill built by Dr. John Manning. The mill failed, and it became a commercial building known as the Coburn Building and the Smith Building, and hosted the Ipswich Post Office for a while. In the center of the building was the variety shop kept by Mr. Stephen Coburn, who was also Post-master. The post office occupied a small room with glass windows, against which the letters for general delivery were placed, and a few private boxes. Postage was high, letters were rare, and the small volume of weekly newspapers required little space The Smith building burned in 1869 and was promptly replaced by the Caldwell Building, still standing.

By the mid 19th Century, the Post Office was in the brick building at Meeting House Green known as the Odd Fellows building. A room in the Post Office was used to recruit soldiers for the Civil War.

During Luther Wait’s first term as Postmaster, the Post Office was in a row of small shops known as the Jones Block that stood where the Christian Science Church is now. Luther Wait was appointed postmaster in 1890 but relinquished the position in 1894 and joined tens of thousands in northwestern Canada looking to strike it rich during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Around the turn of the 20th Century the Ipswich Post Office was located in the Jones Block, a row of small buildings that wrapped up the hill from the Choate Bridge to the Ipswich Female Seminary (now the location of the Christian Science Church)

Luther Wait returned to town, probably empty-handed, and resumed his appointment as postmaster from 1902 – 1914. By that time, the Post Office had moved to Central Street, where it stayed until the current Post Office building was built on Market Street in 1939.