An Oregon state advisory committee voted unanimously in favor of the United States Postal Service’s application to designate the post office in Scappoose as a historic building Friday, Feb. 21.

Members of the State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation said the Scappoose post office — one of several postal buildings in Oregon it recommended for historic status — is a “slam dunk” case for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

The post office was built in the mid-1960s for about $170,000, according to Oregon National Register and Survey Program historian Ian Johnson. While it was completed in early 1966, making it two years shy of the 50-year cutoff point typically used to determine which buildings may be considered historic, the committee opted to be flexible with that limit.

The boxy, unadorned post office off Highway 30 in central Scappoose may not spring to mind as a candidate for historic status for many people, participants in the meeting at McMenamins Grand Lodge in Forest Grove acknowledged.

State committee OKs historic status for Scappoose post office