Temecula's Post Office locations, 1 through 7

John Magee's general store on the Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Butterfield Trail, was the location of our first Temecula Post Office in 1859. It was south of the Temecula Creek and a little east of today's Vail Headquarters in a place no longer visible in a housing tract.

Temecula's most famous artist, Ralph Love, sketched what was believed to be the Magee Store post office, but his drawing in fact shows John Magee's second store which was located farther along the road to San Diego on land that is now in Pechanga's Journey Golf Course. That building was never a post office and is now reduced to two walls of adobe that are preserved nicely by Pechanga.

I believe a sketch by a German traveler named Edward Vischer may show the actual first post office of Temecula. His drawing shows small gatherings of Native people and travelers by a rustic cabin and is labeled "Sunday morning

near Indian Village of Temecola." He noted his visit was in 1866. In the background we see his depiction of the pass that leads toward Fallbrook on today's Interstate 15, which would have been visible as such from John Magee's first

store where the post office was located.

The Temecula Post Office was the first one established in what would later become Riverside County. Louis Rouen, a multilingual emigrant from Belgium, was appointed postmaster by President James Buchanan. Mail was delivered by the Butterfield Overland Mail to John Magee's store from April 22, 1859, until Civil War disturbances ended mail delivery and the post office closed November 12, 1862.

Regular mail delivery to Temecula was resumed in 1870 when President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Louis Wolf as postmaster. Wolf, also multilingual, was born in the Alsace-Lorraine region on the boundary of France and Germany. He housed the post office in the second location, within his general store now known as the Wolf Store.

The second Temecula Post Office building is still standing at Vail Headquarters and is presently home to the Press Espresso coffee shop.

During this time, men like Francisco Ramidz brought the mail from San Bernardino and San Jacinto in saddlebags by horseback and then spent the night at the Wolf Store hotel before heading up to Julian. Samuel Hackett drove a

mail stage from San Diego to Temecula three times a week, changing horses every 20 miles. He also stayed in a hotel room at the Wolf Store before turning back to San Diego.

Our third post office location indicates the change of mail delivery from horseback or wagon to train. For a few months of 1883, that post office was in the temporary Temecula Train Depot located near the present-day intersection of Winchester and Diaz Road. Later that year, mail was routed to the train depot at Pujol and Main

streets.

Finally, in 1885, the Temecula Post Office was put into a building designed for that purpose. Macedonia "Mac" Machado built the structure now known as The Public House restaurant on Main Street and President Chester A. Arthur appointed him as postmaster. I believe that building is the oldest standing structure in Old Town Temecula, after serving in many capacities, including hair salon, carpet shop and deli.

Records are somewhat sketchy, but it appears that the Wolf and Machado Store structure that stood at the location of today's 1909 restaurant was the next to house the Temecula Post Office. It appears that Louis Wolf was again postmaster.

This changed in 1887 when the Temecula Post Office moved to its sixth location in the lobby of the Welty Hotel, now called Hotel Temecula. Hatty Welty was appointed postmaster by President Grover Cleveland. She was one of the Weltys' seven daughters.

After eight years, the Weltys moved the post office to their home across the street from the Welty Hotel. The Welty home was the seventh post office location. It sat where Pennypickle's Workshop – the Temecula Children's Museum is now.

The location of the Temecula Post Office continued to move several more times before it found a permanent home.

Another article will reveal familiar structures in Old Town Temecula that served that purpose. Stay tuned!