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[b]Space Cover 736: Port Canaveral Post Office[/b] The cover above was cancelled at the Artesia, FL post office on December 31, 1953, and also the following day January 1, 1954 when the office was renamed Port Canaveral, FL. With the expanding development of the Atlantic Missile Test Range, this tiny post office would soon be inundated with collector requests for covers postmarked to commemorate unmanned launches and beginning in 1961 manned flights of the US space program. On a recent visit to Florida, I decided to locate the original Port Canaveral post office. My research led me to 8901 N Atlantic Ave, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920, which first served as the Artesia post office until it was renamed in 1954. This single story, cinder block building with a flat roof was constructed in 1952 when the Artesia post office needed to be relocated due to test range development. Referencing a photograph from the City of Cape Canaveral History Archive, the building looks much as it did in the 1950's, a side by side comparison with today is shown below. To better relate the location, I've annotated a NASA Launch Operations Directorate (LOD) map from February 1962, which shows the infrastructure used to support the Mercury program. The Port Canaveral post office location is approximately 3 miles southwest of the Redstone and Jupiter launch complexes. I found it interesting to learn that the SR528/A1A causeway, which I used on my drive, was not yet completed at this time, being dedicated in October of the following year, 1963. Patrick Air Force Base is located approximately 10 miles south of the Port Canaveral post office. Below I've included a few interesting Port Canaveral covers from my collection. I'm looking forward to seeing some of yours, especially if you have any mail pre-1958. The covers in the image are as follows: [*]January 11, 1954 – postal card from the second week after being renamed to Port Canaveral. [*]January 31, 1958 – Explorer 1 launch, with paste on newspaper cartoon cachet, partially erased pencil address Tom Marshall, Box 379, Owensboro, KY, 42302. [*]March 14, 1958 – commercial airmail cover, non-launch date (first anniversary of Jupiter A launch at LC6, notable as first shipped directly from Chrysler factory in Michigan). [*]June 22, 1960 – Thor/Ablestar booster launch carrying Transit 2A and GRAB 1, signed by the Postmaster of Port Canaveral in the upper left corner, Elizabeth Holmes (E. Holmes) who served in that position for more than 25 years. [*]August 31, 1962 – last day covers, hand and machine cancel with cachets. On August 31st, 1962 the Port Canaveral post office was renamed Cape Canaveral, and was moved next door to a larger building at 8907 N Atlantic Ave, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920. Today this building is home to the Canaveral Port Ministry. The current Cape Canaveral post office is nearby at 8700 Astronaut Blvd, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920. An article from the Orlando Sentinel on May 3, 1963 shows the new Cape Canaveral post office, Elizabeth Holmes is seen standing outside with the other postal workers.
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