As with snail mail, information was slow in coming. But it’s faster to realize that more conversation is needed about the difficult history of race in America, in Virginia and at James Madison’s Montpelier.
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Postal Service shuts Montpelier Station office over racial segregation exhibit
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The Montpelier Station railroad depot, which houses a post office, has a history exhibit on the building in the Jim Crow era.
The Southern Railway depot at Montpelier Station includes a history exhibit with separate doors for Blacks and whites. It was this exhibit that caused the post office to close its doors in the spring.
A panel on Montpelier Station's exterior quotes the late U.S. historian John Hope Franklin, who spoke at Montpelier in 2007.
An exterior sign identifies the Montpelier Station post office, which served its Orange County community for decades until being closed in June 2022.
A plaque dedicates Montpelier Station to the memory of Russell Coffin Childs, who envisioned restoring the train depot to tell the story of U.S. segregation. Childs, who died in 2006, was Montpelier’s special projects director.
A panel on Montpelier Station's exterior introduces a historical exhibit, “In the Time of Segregation,” inside the 1910 railroad depot. Installed in 2010, the exhibit describes how the depot's facilities were segregated by race during Virginia's Jim Crow era.
This June 2 letter was left on Montpelier Station for postal box holders and customers of the now-closed post office.
A quote that's part of the segregation display in the part of the historic Montpelier Station Train Depot.
Montpelier Station, built by wealthy industrialist William duPont in 1910, is seen from the entrance road to James Madison’s Montpelier, the plantation and home of the fourth U.S. president.
In recognition of African-American History Month, Emmy Award- winning journalist and Fox News analyst Juan Williams helps open James Madison’s Montpelier’s exhibit, “The Montpelier Train Depot: In the Time of Segregation,” at the restored railroad depot in 2010.
An exhibit panel inside Montpelier Station describes how, during segregation, its Black waiting room had lesser features than the train depot's room for whites.
Christy Moriarty, spokesperson with the Montpelier Foundation, confirmed Wednesday the U.S. Postal Service resumed operations Monday in the sm…
