Downtown Pomeroy Washington from space

Potlatch Lumber Yards -> Tum-A-Lum Lumber -> USPS

Current (2021) address: 1076 Main street
1953 address: 1401 E Main street

Classification: Not in District

Description:

A small page 2 article from the May 3, 1979, EW informed us:

Tum-A-Lum closure near

Tum-A-Lum Lumber in Pomeroy may be closed by the end of the week, manager Ellis Johnson said. The store has been having a going out of business sale for the past two weeks, and many items have been sold, including cabinets and other fixtures. What remains when the sale is over will be hauled to the office in Walla Walla, Johnson said. Exactly when the sale is concluded is a matter for officials at Walla Walla to decide.

We're given a map of the layout of the proposed new Post Office in an August, 1980, East Washingtonian:

Bids called for new post office

Proposed layout of the new Pomeroy post office as of August, 1980

The U.S. Postal Service is calling for bids for construction and lease of a postal facility at the corner of llth and Main, the site of the old Tum-A-Lum Lumber Building.

According to Pomeroy Postmaster Bill Young, bids will be accepted at the Seattle Procurement Office until 2 p.m. on Sept. 12. The postal service is seeking a 2,880 square foot building, with a 216 foot loading platform, and 13,500 feet of asphalt for driving, parking and vehicle maneuvering on the property. There would also be 720 feet of sidewalk, 750 foot of curbing and 3,000 square feet of landscaping.

As planned, the building would be on the corner of llth and Main, with parking on the west side of the property, and loading and unloading of postal vehicles on the south side. The public entrance would be on the west side of the building, facing the parking area. Postal workers here asked that the entrance be on the north or east sides, to avoid the worst impacts of winter weather.

The postal service will lease the building for 15 years, with four five year options to renew. The successful bidder will have to accept and exercise an option to purchase the property, approximately 21,600 square feet, for $21,600. Young received copies of bid forms and instructions, along with a tentative set of plans last Friday.

Tum-A-Lum is no more from the November 13, 1980 issue of the EW;

Photo by Mike Denuty

Site readied for post office

Demolition work on the old Tum-A-Lum Lumber Company building has been under way for the past week, to clear the site for construction of a new Pomeroy Post Office,

The U.S. Postal Service has awarded a contract to Harlan D. and Maxine H. Douglass of Spokane, for the new facility, according to Postmaster Bill Young. The Douglasses have agreed to build a 2,880 square foot facility on the southwest corner of llth and Main.

Jerry Reynolds, spokesman from the Postal Service's regional headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., said the Douglasses were one of six bidders on the project. They will exercise U.S. Postal Service options to purchase 21,600 square feet of property for $1 per square foot from Turn-A-Lum Lumber of Walla Walla.

When ready for occupancy in April 1981, the Postal Service will lease the property for $17,950 per year, for 15 years. There are also four five year renewal options.

A number of local individuals and members of the senior citizens group removed salvage material from the building last week, with Douglass and his crew knocking down the remains, with a bulldozer.

The old wood storage building was knocked down in less than a day, and by last weekend, much of the main building had already been knocked down.

Tum-A-Lum Lumber Company had occupied the building since the 1940's, moving there from what is now the liquor store. The property had formerly housed a Potlatch Lumber Yard.

POMEROY WEATHER

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Delaney (20+ miles W on Highway 12)
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66 South 7th Street
Pomeroy WA 99347

 

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