The new post office building located on College Avenue serves as an example of how capitalism has changed the built environment of Waterville, Maine. The new structure is large and modern looking, with expansive parking lots and delivery truck access. Located away from the downtown area, the new post office has ample space for future growth and can support the changing demands associated with package and mail delivery. Thankfully, the old post office was never demolished and was entered into the National Register of Historical Landmarks in 1977 (Community). The city’s desire to maintain the building suggests that the building itself holds some social capital and that residents enjoy this reminder of Waterville’s past. The transition from the old building to the new signifies the structural changes Waterville has undergone in order to remain competitively relevant in this new age of production. Similarly, these changes in the landscape serve as evidence and reminders of the intricate relationship between the built environment and American capitalist logic.
The Old Waterville Post Office, located downtown on Main Street, most exemplifies Waterville’s intricate and ever evolving relationship with capitalism and demands for production. The post office’s history, location, and architecture best exemplify Waterville’s success in the age of river and railroad transportation. Located closely to the railroad, mail and packages were easily transported to this post office during the booming age of production that Waterville experienced during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. “Since the days of the steamboat, Waterville had been a destination for travelers and it became more so during the railroad’s heydey” (Plocher). However, as production methods changed and progressed the Old Post Office fell into disuse. The Old Waterville Post Office is a marker of Capitalism’s influence on the city of Waterville and how evolving methods of production and transportation have, and continue to change, the landscape around us. As evolving business strategies evolve to demand faster, more cost effective methods, buildings like the Old Waterville Post Office slowly become obsolete and their empty shells are the only remnants of golden age of industry long gone.