Always variety at Wilson Creek Post Office

WILSON CREEK — When visitors pop into Wilson Creek, one of the things they photograph is the local post office lobby.

Postmaster Charlynn Franklin theorizes part of the appeal is the old oak used in the design, an attribute not seen in many modern post offices, and the windows with iron bars, all of which give the lobby an old-fashioned appearance.

"It looks like when they were little," Franklin said. "They remember in little towns. Probably at least once a year during the summer, I have somebody coming through and take a picture."

The original post office location, established Nov. 1, 1894, is unknown, Franklin said. It has been at its present location since 1960 in downtown Wilson Creek. Prior to that, it was based at Urquhart's Trading Post, O'Larey's Store and at a drugstore near the current location.

"When the post office was established here, this was a major railroad center and one of the county's largest towns," Franklin said. Mail was received at the post office twice daily, and came from north and south by train. Arrival by train ended in 1959, at which point mail began arriving by truck from Spokane and Wenatchee.

A resident of Ephrata, Franklin arrived as postmaster in August 2001. Her career began as a substitute in Soap Lake and Ephrata on rural routes, then she worked as a clerk in Ephrata before moving to Quincy. It was there she decided to bid for the position of postmaster in Wilson Creek's office.

"This has been a wonderful learning experience, because I came from being a clerk to being a postmaster in a between four and five year span," Franklin said. She knew many of the clerical obligations, but administrative duties required a little education. "This is a wonderful size to learn that type of thing in."

The commute to work isn't bad, either.

"Going to Quincy, there was sand blowing and a lot of traffic, and here, I just have to watch out for deer," Franklin said. "Which is kind of cool — I get to see a lot of wildlife: Deer, coyote, geese, ducks and actually when I came one day last week, there was an eagle out here."

With the exception of global express, the post office offers every other required service.

"I am an operational post office," Franklin assured.

The post office is part of a three-community area covering Marlin and Stratford. Franklin's is the largest of the communities, she explained. The post office has 150 post office boxes rented, and employs three postmaster relief people who come in when Franklin is off work.

"Some days I'm busier than others," she said. "It's a small office and during the summer, a lot of times, it's not real busy. People don't mail a lot of packages. But just day to day, it always changes."

Doing everything is Franklin's favorite part of the job, because it means she isn't stuck doing only one task.

The holiday season is always busier, she added.

"Obviously not as busy as a bigger post office, but in fact I'll have people from other places stop by when they're traveling because, 'A post office! No cars!'" Franklin said. "So they'll come in and do business with me, buy stamps."

With the expansion of the area, Franklin hopes to see some of that growth eventually spread into Wilson Creek.

"There really hasn't been any growth in this area at all," she said. "Since I've been here, they've added maybe two houses. With the Quincy area growing, hopefully that growth will spread — not a lot, but spread a little here."

That's an opinion some Wilson Creek residents might not share, Franklin is aware.

"People that usually live in small towns, like small towns and they don't really want to grow, and I understand that," she said. "But it's probably bound to happen."

In the meantime, business is slow enough it affords Franklin the opportunity to spend time with her customers, but not to the degree where nobody comes in, she said.

"A lot of my customers here are older, so they like to come in, say hi and chit-chat a little bit," she said. "I try to keep current on some of the things in their lives."