Chester has come a long way since 1856 when Joseph Snead and Charles Stebbins first began building-up the Chester area as a desirable place to live and get away from the heat of the City of Richmond. In those days the mail came to Chester by train and was dropped at Chester Station (then located at the CSX rail tracks and Curtis Street. The mail was then taken up the hill by wagon. Children of the time loved to ride along to the post office, which could have been in a number of locations depending upon the winds of politics at the last election.
At one point, the post office was part of Chester Pharmacy, before the second story was added, which was in the building that now houses Lazy Daisy Country Gift Store.
The act of getting your mail in those days was somewhat different than it is now. A trip to town was usually part of shopping or picking up essentials. Pick up the mail, some fat back and your supply of tobacco and catch up on the gossip.
Oh, how things have changed. The mail is now delivered, of course. We now try to hold back on the fat intake, and smoking is definitely taboo, although the gossip still remains, but through a different venue.
The Post Office is different, too. The new Post Office was constructed on Route 10 at Rock Hill Road, and compared to the one of the 1930s, it is a state of the art structure. Nothing historic here; postal officials would have nothing to do with designing the new building to fit the area. The only compromise is the clock tower, which dresses up the entrance of the utilitarian building. The current Chester Post Office was completed in February 1999.
