Established on 1 July 1805 as the third post office in Berks County, Kutztown's facility has had many addresses over its 200 years of community service. Not until 2002, however, did the address not include "W. Main St."

     An exterior view shows the J.P.S. Fenstermacher home and storefront at 217 W. Main Street., the office of which was converted for use as a postal facility sometime after 1903, when Chas. D. Herman established his emporium at 274 W. Main, which had been the post office's home from 1898, the year that Fenstermacher was appointed postmaster. A prior generation had known this building as the salesroom and manufactory of has maker Charles W. Esser, who died in 1863 and whose son Jacob B. established the Kutztown Publishing Co. By the 1860's, jeweler Augustus Sprenger has his store and residence there, followed by Joshua Smith's blacksmith shop around the turn of the century. Within several years, Smith shifted careers and established his Paroma confectionery two doors west, allowing James H. and Fred A. Marx, who resided next door at No. 219, to conduct their law offices from the premises briefly prior to Fenstermacher's move.

     In 1915, the post office relocated again to 157 W. Main, and in 1919, two years after its founding, and well on its way to 300 members by 1924, the Loyal Order of Moose #1325, which has been meeting in the upstairs social hall, purchased No. 217. In June 1921, Dr. Edward C. Lesher established his Cut-Rate Drug Store in the vacated storefront, remaining until March 1923, when he relocated across the street to the Kutz building at No. 230, where, two years later, he was bought out by William Leh. No. 217 subsequently hosted Jacob A. Boyer, Jr.'s grocery store and meat market (by 1927), followed by Scholl's Meat Market (until 1937) and the S & H Electric Shop (by 1940). In 1939, the Moose lodge was dissolved and succeeded by the Kutztown Social Club. While the architectural alterations to the lovely facade over ensuing decades were unfortunate at best, the Social Club quickly became virtually a unique benevolent organization in Pennsylvania, with its exclusively made fraternity growing to nearly 800 members by 1965. Only as recently as 2003 were its contents auctioned and the building offered for sale.

Historical pictures and historical text © The Kutztown Area Historical Society