I came across the black and white photo of the demolition of the Ancon Post Office below  today and thought this might be an interesting "Photo of the Week".  I added an old post card image of the old post office which was taken many years prior to it's demolition when you see the old cars.  Picture this  area and 4th of July Avenue today.

According to documentation I have, Ancon Post Office was in business from 6/24/04 - 12/31/56.  The Ancon Post Office was not in this cement building from 1904.  The original post office was in a an old wooden tropical type housing building with a large screen porch.  It could very well have been the building shown next to the post office on the left in the colorized post card, but it that building actually looks like the typical duplex housing seen all over the Zone.  The old wooden building Ancon Post Office was replaced with the more modern concrete structure shown here in 1939.

The closing of Ancon post office on January 1, 1956, was announced by Gov. W. E. Potter at a town meeting held in Diablo Heights.  This closing reduced the number of Canal Zone post offices to three that have maintained uninterrupted operation since June 24, 1904.  During the town meeting Governor Potter announced that the decision to close the Ancon post office was made after and extensive survey of the Canal Zone postal system.

Upon closure on January 1, 1956, no decision was made yet as to what use will be made of the of post office building after postal operations cease.

I have no information as to what the building was used for until the Thatcher Ferry Bridge construction began and widening of 4th of July Avenue began.

The black and white photo below is from an unknown date, but the caption of the photo states, "Ancon Post Office was demolished and the Ancon School play shed behind the crane will have to be moved to make way for additional work on the street approach to the new bridge".  It is evident that this demolition took place during the construction of the Thatcher Ferry Bridge and road widening of 4th of July Avenue.

Long live the history of Panama and our Canal Zone home.