Supervising a post office: Lowell W. Baker

LIMA — Lima has an African-American man to thank for the post office downtown.

Lowell W. Baker was supervising architect, a federal government position, for the building project that took place in the 1930s.

Baker was born in Ohio, appearing on the 1880 census in Columbus as a young man. His stepfather was listed as a carpenter, which was a trade Baker apparently took an interest in. He taught woodworking at Wilberforce University once an adult. He appears on the 1900 census in Xenia, listed as a teacher of carpentry, with his wife, Alice, and their daughter, Lulu. They lived in a black neighborhood.

But he studied, passed the civil service exam and found himself appointed to a construction superintendent post in 1904. Was he eager to make a better living for his family? Did he simply want to rise to a position where he could fully use his skill? One can only speculate.

But Baker and his family appear on the Mahoning County census in 1910, with his trade listed as superintendent of construction. He was 42 at that time. His daughter, Lulu, had apparently died, and daughter Bernadine, age 10, and Lowell Jr., age 8, rounded out the family. The census lists them as “mulatto,” and some of his neighbors were white.

His wife, Alice, died, and Baker married a public school teacher named Bertha. They settled in the Detroit area, with Baker traveling to the different jobs under his supervision.

The Crisis, an NAACP publication, published a notice about him and another architect in 1914.

“... both colored men, are making excellent records for themselves in architecture,” the magazine reported.

Baker was assigned to oversee Lima's post office building project, which began in 1928.

“Lima's new post office building will be located west of Main Street,” according to a newspaper story from June 8, 1928.

The new building would replace a building on the southeast corner of High and Elizabeth streets, which had been outgrown.

Federal government officials bought the land and controlled the project. There were two properties, a parcel owned by the Kerr family at Market and Pierce streets and another parcel at West High and Pierce streets. The MacKenzie property won out, being purchased for $118,000. The government would end up paying about $475,000 for the entire project.

The new building was designed to provide space to move mail for a city of 75,000 people, and it was designed so wings could be added as needed.

“The area available for building is approximately four and one half times as large as the site of the present post office. In spite of having been remodeled several times, Lima's old post office, built in 1881, has for many years been considered inadequate in size to care for the city's postal needs,” a June 9, 1928, story reported.

The federal government contracted with Dunlap & Co. of Columbus, Ind., which bid out separate jobs on the site. It took about a year to build, and the streets were widened around it, too.

“With the continued fair weather, work is going forward on Lima's new post office and federal building rapidly,” a March 12, 1930, story reported. “Plans for the water proofing of the basement floor have also to be passed on by L.W. Baker, engineer of the treasury department supervising the work. Baker has been out of the city supervising the completion of a new post office building in New Philadelphia, Ohio. He was expected in Lima Wednesday.”

How Lima reacted when Baker stepped off the train wasn't reported, but what is clear is he got straight to work in Lima and at other projects in the area. He visited Sidney and Cincinnati in the fall of 1930.

By November 1930, the post office was coming together. Marble work and flooring was being finished, workmen were installing the bronze doors at the main entrance, and the main vault door was going on.

“L.W. Baker, supervising engineer for the treasury department, Wednesday expressed much satisfaction with the progress of the structure,” a story reported Nov. 12, 1930.

He even showed up in the social news of the day.

“L.W. Baker, construction engineer of the new post office, was a business visitor to Mansfield last week. Mrs. Hattie Moss and Miss Appaline Morin accompanied L.W. Baker to Detroit Saturday, where they will be guests in the Baker home for the weekend,” a story reported Nov. 16, 1930.

Moss wrote the newspaper column “In Colored Circles” at that time.

Baker stayed in Lima just long enough to see the project finished.

“Baker was scheduled to return to Lima Monday afternoon to begin work on his report. He has received word from the treasury department to close his office not later than Saturday. He probably will be transferred to another post office construction job,” a story reported March 23, 1931.

That new job was in Muncie, Ind. On his way back from a trip there, he and his wife visited at Moss' home on South Union Street. Just a few weeks later, he was dead.

“Word was received in Lima Saturday of the death of Lowell Baker, 72, construction engineer on the new Lima post office, and the only colored construction engineer in the employ of the United States post office department. Injuries received in a fall through a skylight in a post office at Terre Haute, Ind., proved fatal to Baker, whose home was in Detroit. While on the government job in Lima two years ago, Baker resided with Mrs. Hattie Moss, 135 S. Union St. After leaving Lima he went to Muncie, Ind., and then to Terre Haute.”