In 2018 the city of Madison completed renovations on the historic Madison municipal building at 215 Martin Luther King Boulevard. The project won numerous awards for its treatment of the 1929 neoclassical building that was at one time the centerpiece of planner John Nolen’s vision for the downtown Boulevard. While the renovations lovingly restored much of the interior and exterior of the building, one historical feature was missing. For the first time since 1929, the US Postal Service had no presence in the building. Instead the post office was moved across the square to a nondescript corporate rental space. The treatment of the post office in Downtown Madison reflects the fortunes of the US Postal Service over the  last 50 years.  Patty Heyda is a professor of Urban Design and architecture at Washington University in St Louis. She argues that the post office has always been about more than just delivering mail.  Patty Heyda joined the Monday Buzz on August 24, 2020.