Portal, AZ - Rodeo, NM

‍      Support Our Portal Post Office

From Ray Mendez and Eskild Petersen

The Portal Post Office is dependent on our economic support to stay open. It is a contracted facility, not an USPS facility.Over 300people use the Post Office for their mail. If we all contribute, it cost each user very little.

‍ 

Some might think it no problem if our P.O. were to close. Mailboxes and package delivery left in the front of the main road or side lane might do the trick for some but good cheer, community gathering spot, farmers market, bulletin board, stamps, jobs for a few residents and, most importantly, someone to help us with timely information as we all age would be a thing of the past. The drive to San Simon would now be our only local AZ P.O. station. 

Preserving local institutions often means safeguarding not just a service but a sense of community, a shared history, and even an identity. This is especially true for rural landmarks like the Portal Post Office, which has served as a lifeline for communication and connection through generations. Its importance transcends its function as a postal service, becoming a gathering point and a silent witness to the evolution of its people and their stories.

 

Background:

‍    1    The first Portal Post Office opened in 1905. It had a humble beginning. The road fromPortalto the booming mining town of Paradise was improved so settlers wouldbuy supplies in Paradise rather than Rodeo. A stage ran there from Rodeo and stopped to water horses at a spring near Mullens' on property homesteaded by ES Epley. A big sycamore was hollow and, in this, Epley put awhisky barrel, nailed on a counter, and served travelers. He put in a little store and applied for apost officeas Cave Creek. That name had already been taken by a little place north of Phoenix. Epley asked the men loafing on the bench by the store to think of names and a miner suggestedPortalbecause it was the gateway toParadise and the mines. It didn't seem so important that it was the opening to Cave Creek Canyon.

‍    2    The Post Office has changed location many times in the 120 years since then.

‍    3    1921: A railroad man, Raymond Roush and his wife Anna, left Horseshoe Canyon to buy land around the first stage stop. They built an adobe house above and a small store where Anna ran thepost office. She later married Colonel Pugsley.

‍    4    1963: Portal had a traditional USPS-maintained Post Office with the zip code of 85628. We lost that USPS Post Office a few years later because of internal strife in our community which made the Postmaster in Tucson combine Portal with San Simon with the zip code of 85632, but he allowed a private contract branch to operate the service in Portal. It became a Contract Post Office when still housed in the General Store (now the Portal Cafe).

‍    5    1965: "Red" Jensen bought Newmans' store and inherited the Post Office.Rich and Mary Winkler operated the store till it was sold to Codd’s.

‍    6    1982: A slight case of embezzlement caused the regional postmaster to close the operation but a town meeting and, appropriately, a letter writing campaign, moved the official to leave us apost officeif a building and postmaster could be found.

‍    7    Joan and Chuck Jensen won that contract as a branch of the San Simon Post Office. In July 1983 the Post Office moved to the old School House building owned by the San Simon School District to where it is housed now. They put in a low bid which included their paying the electricity, telephone, propane and maintenance bills, bonds and insurance. They provided the service for the next 4 decades.

‍    8    2023: Debbie Bernard and Loy Guzman took over running the Post Office. In August that year the contract for the Post Office was transferred to the Portal Community Post Office LLC, a move required by the USPS regional office in Aurora, Colorado, that handled the contract with Portal Community Post Office, LLC.

‍    9    

When the Post Office was a school  

 

The cost of keeping the Post Office in Portal currently is about $25,500 annually. Clerks $19,000, Bonds, telephone & Internet, repairs, utilities etc. $6,500

Income is $10,000 from Contract. Thus $15,500 is neededevery year to keep the Portal Office Open. If each of the 300+ people who use the services of the Post Office gave $62 a year or about $5 per month it would secure it staying open.

You can help keep your post office open by either writing a check to Portal Community Post Office LLC, BOX 16411, Portal AZ 85632 or donate via Go Fund Me (give often) =

https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-our-portal-post-office