Kanopolis Post Office gets complete facelift

KANOPOLIS — On any given weekday in downtown Kanopolis, the busiest place in town appears to be a nondescript white building on a corner. Cars pull in and out constantly throughout the afternoon. People gather in the lobby to chat, catch up with neighbors and look at the community bulletin board. All of this before going about the routine business of picking up their mail.

This routine was interrupted last May when the U.S. Post Office in Kanopolis was closed for much-needed improvements and renovations. That investment has given the town of about 450 people security knowing a central hub of their town will be there for years to come.

Having that hub is essential to the health of a small rural town.

“It’s very important. I feel like once you lose a post office, it’s like losing your school or your grocery store. Your town just dwindles down,” said Rikki Kepka, supervisor of the Ellsworth Cluster of U.S. Postal Offices, which includes Kanopolis. “They would have to travel at least five miles to go buy a stamp or pick up their mail. No one wants to do that. You just need a post office, especially for the elderly. They need somewhere close they can come in. For some people, that is their only outing to come in and pick up their mail or get a stamp. It is very important and we want to keep it here as long as we can.”

And business owners in the area need the post office, too.

“This is home. We have to have it,” said Gary Falk, co-owner of White’s Construction in Kanopolis, as he visited the lobby to gather mail on a sunny Friday afternoon. “We definitely need it here.”

Renovations began in May 2024, which required the closure of the office for some time.

“It was so neglected for years. We got a new landlord, and they basically just approved all our upgrades and decided they were going to gut it. It took about four months total, start to finish,” Kepka said. “It started with the siding and then they took out all the floors. They fixed all the walls, fixed the roof, repainted, added all new post office boxes, really put all new stuff in here.”

Kevin Jewell, clerk at the Kanopolis Post Office, said that some people were concerned when work began on the building.

“I think there were questions, ‘What’s going on? Are they shutting it down?’ when the remodeling was going on,” he said. “But no. We’re still going. This place really did need it. The outside looks wonderful compared to what it was. That’s a huge plus. The visuals on the outside are way better.”

Many changes were more than cosmetic.

“They took out all the asbestos. That is kind of what started it all. It was crumbling floors and we didn’t want the clerk in here breathing it in, so they came in and said, ‘Well we’ll just remove everything,’” Kepka said. “So that worked out for us. I think the last time it had been touched was in the 1970s — we found some old paperwork that it had been repainted in the 1970s — and that is all they did.”

And the changes with a bigger lobby, new flooring, new counters and post office boxes made for an impact.

“You didn’t notice how bad it was until you got everything out and then you were, ‘Wow, we really did need help,’ and they did a great job,” she said. “It just makes it feel more open.”

Kepka and Jewell are looking forward to more changes to enhance the facility.

“We’re still looking toward new windows, and still hoping for new plumbing and new electric, so kind of waiting to get that approved. It is still ongoing,” she said.

All those are big changes from before Kepka and Jewell began working at the office.

“Before we had Kevin here and before I took over as supervisor, I think the local ladies were even coming in to clean it, so I think they appreciate that we did take the time to fix it up. Because I want it to stick around,” Kepka said. “Another discussion was whether Kanopolis was going to be absorbed by Ellsworth. We don’t want that. We want Kanopolis to have its own post office for many years to come. Now we’ve stabilized it, there is no more talk about us moving over to Ellsworth.”

However, making all these changes did require service disruptions and even changes in the employees’ schedules. During the most intense renovations, Jewell was reassigned to Bennington. And the mail went to Ellsworth.

“While they were updating it, all their mail was being taken to Ellsworth. They would have to go and pick up their mail manually. For some of the older ladies or older people, the postmaster and I would come over here and deliver it to their door to make it easier for them so they didn’t have to make the trek,” Kepka said. “After we got the flooring in, Kevin was able to sit in here with the mail … no boxes, just a big open room. But he’d sit in here and hand out their mail.”

“That went on for probably a couple of

“I feel like once you lose a post office, it’s like losing your school or your grocery store. Your town just dwindles down. They would have to travel at least five miles to go buy a stamp or pick up their mail. No one wants to do that.

You just need a post office, especially for the elderly. ”

Rikki Kepka

Supervisor of the Ellsworth Cluster of U.S. Postal Offices months at least during the summer last year,” Kepka said.

She applauded Jewell for his positive attitude during the change.

“He is very positive and everyone loves him.

His father was the clerk here before he was,” she said.

Despite the inconveniences, customers and staff tolerated it to enjoy the end goal and appreciate the improvements.

“It’s very important to have the post office here,” said Janice Essick of Kanopolis. “While they were remodeling, we had to go to Ellsworth. The redecorating was long overdue.

The outside is very nice and we have a lot more room.”

Soon joining Essick in the spacious new lobby was Toni Kerby of Kanopolis, who also was pleased to have the post office back to normal.

“It was very inconvenient to drive over to Ellsworth, because I was working and could only get there one day of the week,” Kerby said.

Future of the post office Kepka and Jewell are looking forward to additional upgrades to the office.

“I think our priority will be plumbing. We know it needs all new plumbing, lines and everything. We are in the process of getting lighting approved. LED lighting to make it brighter and more efficient. It’s just going through the chain for approval,” she said.

“That can take a little bit, but we’re working on it too. We even talked about landscaping.

Anything to improve the post office.”

And the post office is thriving, despite the small population.

“We have 126 open post office boxes and we’ve had some interest in some people moving from the route into the post office for mail security and being able to have it locked up instead of in their boxes,” Kepka said. “We left some post boxes vacant so that it can grow a little more, too.

We can sell all retail products. I can do anything here that a big office can do. It’s just manually run. Instead of a cash register, I’m the cash register, so I’ll weigh your package manually and figure the postage manually. It is a full-service office.”

And while it may not rival the activity at Ellsworth, it is one of the busiest offices in the cluster.

“We run six offices in the cluster, and this is our busiest one with the most revenue, next to Ellsworth, of course. The revenue has been steady here,” she said.

“Being closed that couple of months didn’t really impact the revenue because we were open and back in business soon, and the customers came right back.”

The small white building on the corner is full of activity throughout the day.

“It is limited in hours, but people come in all day long,” she said. “It’s open 12:30-4:30 p.m.

Monday through Friday. Kevin is in a few hours on Saturday to sort mail, and people know if they need anything then to just knock on the door, Kevin is here.”

For now, the outlook of the Kanopolis Post Office looks as shiny as the new lobby floor.

“The community response has been really great. It’s here to stay now,” Kepka said. “The regulars always come in. Some come in just to talk. It’s a happening place.”