People will soon pick up their mail at a new post office in Live Oak.

LIVE OAK, Fla. — Space is limited, the paint is peeling in places and it certainly struggles with being handicap accessible, however Blair Beaty is going to miss his current home when the Live Oak Post Office moves in the near future.

The United States Postal Service announced in April that it was moving the post office to a yet to be determined location.

Today, the current post office turns 103.

“I’m going to miss this office,” said Beaty, the postmaster, during a recent tour of the building. “This is one of the best offices I’ve ever been in. I really enjoy it. I don’t care that people have to come through my office to get to the lobby. I don’t do anything in here that they can’t see.

“It’s just, I like this building. I’ve always liked this building. I was postmaster in Valdosta, Perry, Tallahassee, they all are generic, squatty, low-block buildings. All the buildings that were the high federal style that were pre-depression or built during the depression are beautiful structures.”

As beautiful as the historic post office was and may still be, she is showing signs of her age. The tile floor has been worn off in places. The paint hangs high off the walls above where postal carriers sort through the mail. Doors are small and it’s a task for a handicapped person to access the building — first weaving through the ramp in the rear of the building before crossing the loading dock to ring a bell for service and then being led through the sorting area and Beaty’s office to reach the lobby.

“This building is just not handicap friendly,” Beaty said. “We’re definitely not able to serve everybody at the level that we want to.

“So that’s one thing about going to a new facility that will allow.”

But while a new post office will certainly help Beaty and his team to serve the community safely and efficiently, the pending move is one that is bittersweet to not only Beaty and his current employees, but former Live Oak postal employees as well.

Elzie Williams worked at the post office for years, starting in 1960 and later serving as a supervisor for more than 20 years before becoming the postmaster in Branford.

Williams, too, will be sad to see the post office move.

“It is a bittersweet pill,” he said, adding that he understands why the upcoming move is necessary.

While the problems will be alleviated — currently the post office receives its mail on a 26-foot truck rather than a semi trailer due to lack of space to unload as well as the tight quarters with around 25 people working in the sorting area during peak times daily — the historic features won’t come with it.

“It’s just tight,” Beaty said of the work space. “If this was a permanent operation, we wouldn’t be allowed to operate this way.”

The old building also proved its resourcefulness in ways other than getting the mail delivered over the years. It served as a fallout shelter during periods of war with the sign still hanging on the back side of the structure.

“It’s built like a fort,” Williams said, adding the brick walls are several layers of brick deep.

He also said according to stories he heard during his long tenure at the post office, that when that site was selected for the postal location, they first had to move a house that was sitting there. So, the two-story house was moved behind the post office, where it still sits.

“It was the very center of town,” Williams said, adding he hopes the building will remain in use.

“I would certainly like to see them maintain the building and keep it… Something that is very useful and open to the public.”