Overview
There are three postal offices that oversee Chinatown:
1. Canal Station
2. Peck Station
3. Knickerbocker Station
Since our focus of study is on the Fuzhounese community on East Broadway, we will be looking at the Knickerbocker Station, located at this address:
128 E. Broadway
New York, NY 10002-9998
The Knickerbocker Station covers from E. Houston Street to South Street and from Bowry Street to the FDR.
History
The Great Depression
– Due to high unemployment rate, the government helped the economy by offering more jobs.
– The government wanted to build new government buildings so they ammended the Public Building Act, which did not allow outside contractors to do the job.
William Dewey Foster
– He graduated from M.I.T. as an architect
– The government hired him as an outside counsultant to work on postal offices. One of them is the Knickerbocker Station
Knickerbocker Station
– The postal office was designed in 1935 and built from 1935-37.
– The building, like many other postal offices built during this time, featured a Colonial-revival Style.
Historal Landmark
– The building is not labled as a historical landmark
Key Informants
Ms. Xiu Leung
She has been working at the postal office for 27 years and is currently a secretary. Ms. Leung has encountered the changes seen in the postal office and the businsses the Fuzhounese are involved in.
Mr. Wing Tse
He has been working at hte postal office for 28 years (18yrs as a carrier and 10yrs as a supervisor). Mr. Tse shares similar views as Ms. Leung and has encountered the changes within the post office.
Changes within Post Office
– Based on Ms. Leung, she remembered that there were about four Jewish workers and four Black workers when she started at the post office
– As Chinese people started to fill Chinatown, there has been a gradual change in the demographics of workers at hte postal office
– The majority are now Asian Workers that speak Cantonese
– There are some Chinese decorations within the Post Office that caters to the Chinese popualation.
– There also some Chinese advertisements
Relevance of Postal Office to Chinatown
– Other postal offices are experience a decline in number of deliveries. However, at the Knickerbocker Station, the number of deliveries has increased to 37,000 from 35,000.
– There are 150 to 200 daily express parcels from China that fosters business growth on East Broadway. These businesses guy cheap goods from China and sell them for higher prices
– Postal office workers heavily advertise rental postal boxes to the Fuzhounese community in order to make devliveries more efficent.
