Judson Post Office is a Pleasure to Visit

by admin | February 27, 2026 7:43 am

About three times a week, I head to the Judson Post Office to get the mail. I have been renting post office boxes for decades. The PO box habit began when I was a poor college student, often moving across town to save on rent or get a marginally nicer place. I did not want to deal with filling out change-of-address forms and risk missing magazine subscriptions, or deliveries from the Book of the Month Club, or the History Book Club.

This is an admittedly old-fashioned habit in this time of electronic mail and digital subscriptions. I use both extensively, but I also cling to the print magazine habit — The New Yorker, Atlantic, Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, Texas Highways, Moth[1] [2]er Jones, Wire, AARP, and a couple others that do not come to mind now.

When I ran the Longview paper, I had a post office box at the downtown office. Every weekday morning, I would take a quick break and walk two blocks from the paper to the post office to get my mail. It was a pleasant respite from work. Most days, I ran into folks I knew, like Lou Galosy, the city’s former mayor. He and my grandfather, a retired Boy Scout executive, were friends. Lou and I would reminisce and briefly shoot the breeze. Lou always dressed impeccably, a tiny American flag attached to the antenna of his compact station wagon. A few years later, we bought the house next door to his. When he found out, he jokingly said, “There goes the neighborhood.” At least, I think it was a joke.

Lou sadly passed away during the first year we lived there.

When we moved to Three Geese Farm, going on five years ago, I immediately rented a box at the Judson Post Office so I could change addresses on all those subscriptions. It takes less than 10 minutes to get there from the farm.

Since then, I have fallen in love with the Judson Post Office, as much as anyone can love a post office. It is welcoming, quaint, and its employees are among the nicest I have ever encountered behind a post office counter. The building is nondescript, with dated wood paneling, drab tile floors, and harsh fluorescent lights. But the women who work there regularly decorate the lobby and outside to mark whatever holiday comes next. I just returned from a Sunday afternoon trip there. The Valentine’s Day decorations are down; now up are St. Patrick’s Day decorations. During the Christmas season, a large tree dominated the lobby. A bookshelf of books is available to anyone who wants to grab something to read.

Judson began as a farming community north of Longview, centered around a Missionary Baptist church established at a school named Lawrenceville in 1883, according to the Handbook of Texas. When I was a kid growing up here from 13 on, Judson was out in the country. It has now become indistinguishable from the rest of Longview. About all that remains of the name is the fairly new Judson Middle School, a couple of churches with Judson in their names, Judson Road, which leads into town, and Judson Post Office.

Unsurprisingly, most of its patrons are elderly. I am grudgingly among that demographic. We old folks always nod, smile, and say hello to each other, but that is as extensive as the conversation gets. No Lou Galosy-type conversations here for me. Most folks seem to know each other. I am a newbie to the Judson Post Office. No matter.

When I sell the occasional book through my website, I head to the Judson Post Office to mail it via media mail. There is rarely more than one person ahead of me in line, if that. The postal workers are always friendly and helpful, making sure the box is taped well and the shipping labels safely secured. They even save boxes in case someone needs one to mail a package.

When it comes to the federal government, not much works well these days in my view. The Judson Post Office is a pleasant reminder that all is not quite lost.

Source URL: https://garyborders.com/pages/visiting-the-quaint-kind-judson-post-office/

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