The Indian Rocks Beach post office celebrated its 100th anniversary on Wednesday with cake and a ribbon cutting.
"It’s right at the heart of the city itself," said Mayor R.B. Johnson. "It’s very important to us to have our own post office right here in the community and not have to go to the mainland."
The Indian Rocks Beach post office also happens to be the smallest post office in Pinellas County with only 13 employees. It's the kind of place where the customers know all of the postal employees.
"Danny is my postal delivery person," said resident Janis Water. "You get to know Anita and Dave in the office itself."
The post office has moved four times over the past 100 years and has been at the current location at 204 4th Avenue since 1960. The post office first opened on Dec. 10, 1914, in what's now considered unincorporated Largo. The second location opened up in 1923, followed by a move to the third location in 1941, according to the Indian Rocks Beach Historical Museum.
"People go to the internet today. Well, the post office was that place," said historian Wayne Ayers. "The post office was a very important part of the community in those days. It served as a place where people could gather, they could get information. You’ve got to remember the roads were bad. There was not even a bridge over to the beach."
Mayor Johnson said the post office still plays a vital role in the beach town.
"It’s a small post office but it’s a busy post office," he said. "It’s very important."
The Indian Rocks Beach post office makes 6,700 deliveries per day and triple that number during peak season. It also serves Indian Shores, Belleair Beach and Belleair Shore.
"One hundred years," Water said. "I hope they never close it."