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 1970:
Columbus Post Office
Background music: Paul McCartney, "Singalong
Junk"
By the mid 1960s it became clear that Columbus
would need a new Post Office. Seizing the opportunity to provide
yet another landmark structure, Columbus broke with tradition once
again, and became the first American city to have a Post Office
designed by a privately paid architect.
The architect was Kevin Roche, and after three
years of construction, the building was dedicated on July 19, 1970.
A first class stamp was 6 cents, and the minimum hourly wage was
a $1.60. The population of Columbus was just over 27,000.
Richard Nixon was President. Increasingly angry
student protests against his handling of the Viet Nam war resulted
in National Guard troops opening fire on a thousand student demonstrators
at Kent State University in Ohio. Fifteen students were shot; four
were killed. In sympathy and protest, a nationwide student strike
shut down over 450 colleges and universities across the country.
On April 22nd the first Earth Day took place,
as millions of Americans showed concern for the environment, and
protested abuses of land, air, water and wildlife. Congress established
the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Beatles broke up; by
the end of the year each member had released a solo album. New items
in 1970 included the floppy disk and the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Jimi
Hendrix and Janis Joplin both died drug-related deaths at the age
of 27. Some people born in 1970: Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, and
Chris Kattan.
Today the Columbus Post Office, the first of
its kind, is still a unique architectural landmark that continues
to deliver not just the mail, but a great service to the community
that relies on it.
More about life in the early 1970s
Gary Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury debuts in about
30 newspapers.
"We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters, "American
Woman" by The Guess Who, and "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
by Simon and Garfunkel.
Love Story, M*A*S*H, Patton,
and True Grit.
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