OLD MAIN LINE VISITORS CENTER AND POST OFFICESykesville Contract Post Office (CPU)
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The Old Main Line Visitor Center and Post Office
Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:00 am to 1:00 p.m.
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| Our Sales Associates; Kelli, Susan and Jenn | ||||||
| Click for Old Main Line Visitor Center Permit Application | ||||||
| Click for rules for the Visitor Center | ||||||
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Hours of Operation
Last mail pick-up is 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday 1:00 p.m. Saturday
The Post Office address is 731 Oklahoma Avenue, Sykesville MD 21784-7363 Phone: (410) 552-9975 Email: postoffice@sykesville.net
The drive up mail box, is located directly across the street (Oklahoma Avenue) from the Post Office.
History of the original building
A portion of the ground floor of the building is used as a
place for visitors and residents to pick up brochures and information on
town events and to view displays and photographs depicting local scenes.
Another portion of the ground floor includes a unique contract postal
business, which provides all types of mailing services to town residents,
and businesses. The top floor, where the operator once worked, is a
20-by-38 foot open area for use as a meeting space. Visitors may also use
this space to get a panoramic view of the town through its 20 large windows.
The second floor is also available for rental. B&P, named for the old Baltimore & Potomac Railway, had
the largest interlocking plant between Philadelphia and Washington. With 107
levers on its machine, it controlled part of the Northern Central branch,
the switches into the old sleeper yard, the tracks leading to Calvert and
Hilton stations, as well as main track moves between Penn Station and B&P
Tunnel. Other action in its time included moves onto the Maryland &
Pennsylvania Railroad directly across from the tower, and moves up the
high-line behind the tower to the B&O diamond at North Avenue en route to
Mount Vernon yard. The Tower closed as an active office on July 14, 1988. The building sat unused for a number of years, but it was
in the way of construction of the Penn Station leg of Baltimore’s light-rail
line. In 1995, the city of Bowie, Maryland, agreed to take the building for
a park project, possibly as a boat house, but not as a tower museum since it
already had one of those. B&P Tower’s top floor was dismantled (its base
remained at the original site and remains there today) and its parts were
stored in an unprotected area. Plans for the park project never reached
fruition. When the town of Sykesville acquired the salvageable parts, it was
noted that much of the rest of the original building had deteriorated too
badly for use. An architect was hired to design the building patterned after
the original and incorporating as much of the original material as possible. |