Post Office and General Store in Buncom.
The Buncom Post Office building was constructed about 1910. It also doubled as a General Store.
The roof was replaced by the Buncom Historical Society in the 1990s, and significant work was done on the support beams inside. New footings were placed underneath to stabilize the building.
In 2002, the porch that had graced the Post Office until it collapsed about 40 years earlier was restored.
That having been said, I'm still trying to find out where Buncom is. I found the photo at http://www.buncom.org/whats_at.htm along with a couple of other pictures of old buildings in Buncom.
Actually, for you history buffs, Buncom is in Oregon.
The three buildings at Buncom are all that remains of a once thriving gold mining camp. When gold was discovered on Sterling Creek in 1856, thousands of miners flocked there from the gold fields of California and other Oregon locations. Many of them made their fortunes; many didn't. At first they mined with pans and shovels. When the placer diggings ran out, they built huge ditches and forced powerful streams of water through hoses to mine the gold hydraulically.
The mining claims soon were consolidated and run by large companies, but Buncom found a second life. Since it was a day's wagon ride from Jacksonville, the nearest town, Buncom became the supply and distribution center for the farmers and ranchers in the Little Applegate Valley. A stagecoach route ran through it, and the federal government made Buncom a post office in 1896.
The coming of the automobile was the end for Buncom. With Jacksonville (and Medford) now just a short drive away, there no longer was a need for Buncom. The post office closed in 1916, and while a small general store continued to operate (like a convenience store today), the buildings were eventually abandoned and fell into disrepair.
The two photos below were taken in the 1950's and 1960's, respectively.
AND NOW THAT WE HAVE YOUR COMPLETE ATTENTION....
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Post Office and General Store in Buncom.