While mailed letters and post stamps have a diminished importance in the modern world of cell phones, email, and social media, the post office still provides a critical function for business, commerce, and delivery of important documents, not to mention greeting cards and condolences. While Ravensdale remains an unincorporated area, its 98051-zip code is vast stretching from Four Corners to Landsburg, through Kangley, Selleck, Kanaskat to Bayne, in all covering 51 square miles.
Prior to the establishment of a coal mine in 1899, the area had no official name. The new mine was financed by the San Francisco Railway & Navigation Company which named the operation for a prominent Seattle businessman and the mine’s original developer, John Leary. For the next two years, Leary was the place name for the homes and hotels that sprung up to provide housing for coal miners.
Prior to the town’s name changing to Ravensdale in 1901, residents of the area received their mail at Eddyville, a sawmill community on the southeast shore of Lake Wilderness. The new post office that opened on Dec. 21, 1901 was just a stone’s throw from the Northern Pacific Railroad which rolled through the center of town. This building still remains on its original site located between S.E. Ravensdale Road and the railroad tracks. Following a remodel circa 1930, this version of the Ravensdale post office served the community until 1957. This photo dated Dec. 27, 1939, comes courtesy of the Puget Sound Regional Archives’ collection of King County Assessor records. Photo enhancements to remove Assessor notes and improve the image quality were undertaken by Doug “Boomer” Burnham, a Tahoma High School teacher whose photography business can be found at www.BoomersPhotography.com
In June 1957, the post office was moved into the former Dale Coal Company Store, by then used as a dance hall and owned by Wendell Johnson, the postmaster for the next 21 years, and the longest-serving. The Logar family in the persons of Anna, Anton, and Mary were other notable postmasters serving for 25 years from 1916 to 1941.
The third post office building was established on Kent-Kangley Road in 1961 and remained there until 1975 when the fourth post office was constructed by Johnny Markus, Jr., the third of five generations of the Markus family who’ve lived in Ravensdale. The third building was demolished that same year to provide more parking for its replacement. The fourth location lasted 27 years and was succeeded by the current and fifth post office which opened in April 2002, 100 years after the original was dedicated. The first, second and fourth buildings all still stand – the first as a home, the second as a commercial warehouse, and the fourth as an Edward Jones financial advisor’s office.
Michael and Donna Brathovde wrote a detailed history of the five Ravensdale post offices from which this column was adapted. A story board in the side wing of the newest building located at27200 272nd Ave S.E. features a number of photos with a full account of the postal service in Ravensdale.
