The St. Bonaventure Post Office
St. Bonaventure, NY 14778

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Lynch Hall Administration Building Post Office
The Post Office at St. Bonaventure's College was established on May 13, 1907. At that time, the small mailroom resided in the basement of Lynch Hall, which later became De La Roche Hall. The first postmaster at St. Bonaventure was the Rev. Alexander Hickey, OFM, who also served as the president of the college from 1916-20. Father Alexander served as the college's postmaster until 1929. At that time, the St. Bonaventure Post Office held a fourth class rating, reflecting the amount of business that the office received.
In 1947, due to growing business caused by the post-war spike in enrollment, the St. Bonaventure Post Office was promoted to a second class rating by the U.S. Postal Service. That year, the Post Office was moved from its small facility in the basement of De La Roche to larger quarters in the new Administration Building. Although the facilities in the Administration Building were much better equipped to handle the growing traffic in the Post Office, Postmaster Brother Cletus Glackin, OFM, wished that the Post Office could have its own building.

Br. Cletus (right) and some of the Post Office employees in the Administration Building.

Working at the St. Bonaventure Post Office, circa 1950s.

In 1964, the U.S. Postal Service approved the construction of a separate Post Office Building for St. Bonaventure. The approval was granted because the Administration Building was due to be removed from campus and replaced by Hopkins Hall. The new St. Bonaventure University Post Office was dedicated on April 10, 1965. Located on the current site of the Quick Center, the new building was one story high, 2700 square feet, and was home to more modern mail handling equipment.

The St. Bonaventure University Post Office, 1965.

In the fall of 1992, the Post Office was moved once again. In order to use the site to build the Quick Center, the University made plans to demolish the Post Office building. It was decided that the Post Office would be moved to the first floor of the Reilly Center, using what had previously been a lounge. The St. Bonaventure Post Office remains in these facilities to this day.
 

Timeline is still under construction. Minor changes will appear.

Timeline of SBU Postmasters & Events

Postmaster Term Events
Alexander Hickey, OFM 1907-29 SBU Post Office established, located in the basement of De La Roche
Fergus Fitzsimmons, OFM 1929-31  
Eugene Seraphin, OFM 1931-?  
Benjamin Kuhn, OFM ?  
Cletus Glackin, OFM 1935-60 1947: Post Office is moved from De La Roche to the Administration Building
Fidelis Sweitzer, OFM 1960-61  
Clarence Ford, OFM 1962-66 1964: New Post Office Building constructed on present site of QCA.
Ernest O'Donnell, OFM 1966-68  
Martin McCormick, OFM 1968-71?  
Sebastian Egan, OFM 1971-72  
Mrs. Gene W. Geise 1972-80 First non-Franciscan postmaster, first woman postmaster at SBU
Jim Boser 1980-92? 1992: Post Office relocated from PO Building to RC lounge to make way for construction of QCA
Jim Ruschak 1995-?  
Jill Hale ?-present  

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Page created by Ellen Winger, Spring 2010.
Last update:07 July 2010