CAROLA LILLIE HARTLEY
Contributing Writer and Publisher
Photograph: Carola Lillie Hartley Collection
On July 25, 1950, the Associated Press announced the US Congress had appropriated $930,000 for a new federal building and post office in Opelousas, LA. But just one day later on July 26, the Lafayette Daily Advertiser reported construction of a proposed US Post Office at Opelousas would have to wait until the world situation became clearer. The Opelousas post office project was put on hold for over a decade while the US was involved in the Korean War and its aftermath.
After years of waiting, finally in 1966 the new Opelousas post office project was approved. Property at the corner of Union and Vine streets was selected, and the new Opelousas Federal Building/Post Office construction began in October of that year. Federal offices and the post office moved from the old building to the new location that opened on January 21, 1968. It operated there until 2002 when it was moved to a new post office building at Wallior Street on the east end of town.
The top feature photograph shows the new Opelousas Post Office and Federal Building on the corner of Union and Vine streets during construction in 1967. Today that building houses the office of the St. Landry Parish District Attorney.
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