ANNA MARIA – Anna Maria is the only city on Anna Maria Island that doesn’t have home and business mail delivery and folks in Anna Maria’s 34216 zip code seem to like it that way.
Anna Maria residents, business owners, seasonal visitors and the city government all collect their mail at the Anna Maria Post Office at 101B South Bay Blvd.
There isn’t much historical information available as to why the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) doesn’t provide home and business delivery in Anna Maria, but there are some theories that have been passed down over the years.
The most prevalent theory is that Anna Maria’s early residents and decision-makers didn’t want mailboxes cluttering the narrow city streets. Another theory is that they wanted their post office to serve as a place where community members could mingle and share community news and information.
USPS regional media contact Lecia Hall was unable to provide any information as to how or when it was decided that home and mail delivery would not happen in Anna Maria and Anna Maria Post Office employees were directed not to discuss postal service operations with the media.
Postal history
According to the Manatee Library Historical Digital Collection website, Anna Maria, the Island’s oldest city, got its first post office in 1904. It was located in Samuel Cobb’s home at the center of the Island – what is now Holmes Beach – with Cobb serving as postmaster.
The library collection includes an undated photograph of an early Anna Maria Post Office located in a cottage-like building with no specific date or location provided.
H.H. Whitehead became the Island’s second postmaster in 1915, followed by James Whitehead as postmaster in 1919. Anna Maria City Commissioner Harry Ditmus became the postmaster in 1922. In 1924, he began delivering mail in Bradenton Beach and Anna Maria, driving a truck that resembled a pioneer’s prairie schooner. The library collection includes a 1925 photo of Ditmus and his mail truck in front of the Bradenton Beach Post Office.
When Ditmus took a four-year break from 1932 to 1936, Eleanor Gill delivered mail around the Island in her 1932 station wagon.
Island historian Carolyne Norwood’s book, “Anna Maria Island – The Early Days,” also references the Island’s early postmasters and notes former Anna Maria Mayor Frances Warttig served as postmaster in the 1940s and 50s.
In 1955, a new Anna Maria post office opened at 9908 Gulf Drive, in the plaza space now occupied by the Nomad Collection boutique.
Ron Smith became an Anna Maria postal clerk in 1971 and served as Anna Maria’s postmaster from 1988-2001. In 2000, he oversaw the post office’s move to its current location before retiring in 2001.
2001 also marked the retirement of longtime postal clerk and still-current Anna Maria resident Judy Adams. Adams spent 23 years as an Anna Maria postal clerk and her father-in-law, Sam Adams, previously worked at the post office for 11 years.
Danny Haynes succeeded Smith as postmaster, followed by Gloria Kincaid, who retired in 2011 and was succeeded by the current postmaster, Sheila Brunger.
Anna Maria Post Office
The Anna Maria Post Office service counter is open Monday through Friday, two hours on Saturday and closed on Sundays. The lobby is open 24 hours a day so mail recipients can access their mail. Anna Maria residents, homeowners, business owners and the city government get free post office boxes.
When contacted last week, Judy Adams was asked if she knows why Anna Maria residents don’t get home mail delivery.
“I don’t know anything official,” she said. “It’s all rumors, but the one I always heard was the streets are too narrow.”
Adams likes the security that post office boxes provide.
“It’s nice to have your own P.O. box that’s safe and secure, as opposed to being on the street. You don’t have to worry about your mail, or your mailbox being knocked down,” she said, adding that she also likes the sense of community post office boxes create. “That’s a good community tradition and we could use more community nowadays.”
Community support
Anna Maria City Commissioner Jon Crane said, “Surprisingly, the United States Post Office serves as a hub of community togetherness for our little city. I visit the post office almost every day and say ‘hi’ to the dedicated staff and my friends and neighbors while checking my mailbox. When I was gathering 10 signatures to support my recent application for election to the commission, I loitered in the lobby, gathered signatures and listened to the ideas my constituents had for improving the operation of the city. There are some neighbors I only see in the post office and I am always happy to see they’re happy and healthy.”
The city of Anna Maria has an encased city bulletin board attached to the post office building and it helps the city promote events and share information.
Anna Maria resident Barbara Murphy said, “I’ve never minded having to pick up our mail. It’s fun to see who you’ll run into that you haven’t seen in a while and catch up on local happenings.”
On Nov. 29, Anna Maria resident Tom Ehren stopped at the post office to get his mail and place a couple toys in the Toys for Tots collection bin.
“I look forward to getting my mail and I like the fact that we don’t have ugly mailboxes up and down the street,” he said.
Ehren said he enjoys running into friends and neighbors at the post office and he’s friendly with the post office staff.
42-year Anna Maria resident Brent Van Winkle swings by the post office three or four times a week and doesn’t mind doing so.
“It’s a social event and I run into other residents and friends. I like the post office and everyone that works there is very helpful,” he said.
Duncan Real Estate owner Darcie Duncan said someone from her office picks up the business mail. She doesn’t oppose the post office boxes, but it can create challenges for the home delivery of packages.
Unless they’re brought by sleigh and reindeer.
