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A Special Delivery In Aripeka

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 26, 2008

ARIPEKA - History is never far away in this fishing hamlet hard by the Gulf of Mexico.

Louise Geiger reminded her fellow villagers - many of them blood relatives - of that Sunday when they gathered beneath a live oak tree near the heart of town to rededicate the community's original post office.

Geiger, the matriarch of a family that encompasses most of Aripeka, is the granddaughter of James Kolb, the community's original postmaster. Kolb built the first post office in 1921 with lumber he hauled into town by horse and wagon.

At the time, the post office had eight mailboxes in use, Geiger said.
Kolb ran the post office with his wife for nearly 25 years. He was succeeded by his youngest daughter, Lizzie Jackson, who ran the post office until 1971.

After the current post office opened in the 1970s, the original building changed hands and purposes until Geiger bought it for $5,000 four years ago.

Since then, Aripeka's residents have donated time, effort and money to restore the aging structure. They built new steps and repaired the tin roof. They replaced the original asbestos shingles with safer siding.

"We did a lot of free labor on it," said James Norfleet, Geiger's brother.
Geiger plans to open the building to the public from time to time.

The crowd for Sunday afternoon's ceremony was a mix of people in their church finery and others in T-shirts and sandals. Toddlers rode on their father's shoulders. Old men leaned on their canes.

Addressing the 60 or so people who attended Sunday's dedication, Joe Sims, pastor of the nearby Aripeka Baptist Church, reminded his audience that the past has a valuable place in every community.

"We need to remember where we came from," Sims said. "So many times, people don't look at the past. They're too busy looking to the future."

Inside, the post office is split side-to-side by a wall, creating a shallow space up front for customers and a space about the same size in back for the postmaster. There's neither electricity nor plumbing.

Photos of Kolb, Jackson and other former postmasters line the walls, as do letters from the federal government officially creating postal service in Aripeka.

Restoring the post office was a labor of love but one that Geiger almost abandoned out of frustration.

Addressing the crowd from the post office's steps, Geiger thanked everyone for attending and honoring "Papa" Kolb.

"It means a lot to me in memory of my grandfather," she said.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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