Layton Post Office History: 10 different locations

                                Layton's 9th Post Office at 109 West Gentile Street.


THE nature of progress is change. For example, Layton City’s current U.S. Postal Office at 1123 North Fairfield Road, is the 10th location in the city’s history of mail delivery.
Layton’s mail delivery was handled by the post office in Kaysville City during Layton’s early days.
It wasn’t until 1882 that special arrangements were made and the Farmers Union Store in Layton could accept mail collection and delivery.
Layton’s next post office was at 52 North Main Street in a small store operated by William Hyde in the late 1880s.
In 1895, the post office in Layton moved to the Adams and Son Store at 10 North Main Street.
In the early 20th Century, the Joseph Sill house at 163 West Gentile Street was used as the city’s post office.
In part of 1922, the Laudie Garage at 52 North Main served as a post office. Later that year, postal operations moved to Layton Auto at 11 North Main Street.
In 1925, the Dawson Building, 38-42 North Main became the Layton Post Office.
In the 1940s, the mail hub in Layton was at 58 West Gentile Street. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s that mail was actually delivered
regularly to most Layton residents. Previous to that, most residents had to come to the post office themselves to pick up their mail.
Some mail carriers in that delivery era of the 1950s were treated to hot pies, or other treats, or even vegetables in the mail boxes by thankful residents.
However, some pranks were also staged, like putting snakes or cats in the mailboxes to surprise and shock the postal carrier.
Starting on Oct. 22, 1960, the post office expanded substantially into a new facility at 109 West Gentile Street, just west of Main Street.
The 10th and current U.S. Post Office on Fairfield opened in October of 1995.
It required a decade of lobbying by city officials to get the new $2.3 million post office opened in Layton on five acres of ground. Layton wasn't scheduled to get a new post office for another five or six years, but the lobbying by city officials moved its construction up.
The building replaced the old cramped, undersized post office on West Gentile Street, with just five parking stalls. The new facility at 25,000 square feet is nearly triple the size of the old one.
The new post office also solved some of the traffic issues on busy West Gentile Street, where either postal patrons, or the Union Pacific Railroad caused backups on the
roadway.

Sources: “A Brief History of the Kaysville and Layton Post Offices,” by the Kaysville-Layton Historical Society, 1986; and the Deseret News Archives.