Pictured inside the new station, where residents’ post office boxes now reside, from left, were Clifton villagers Shelley Fiessinger, Jim Fiessinger and Lee Nicewaner — who built the new station — and Jessica Horton. (Photo by Lauren "Chuck" Shows)
New mail station in Clifton
- Published: March 31, 2026
On Saturday, March 14, the door to Clifton’s Senior Center opened and closed in a consistent rhythm as villagers wandered in, greeting neighbors and drifting toward a table of snacks. They were all there to celebrate a collective victory: Clifton’s mail was back in town.
The celebration capped off nearly three months of uncertainty following a difficult announcement late last year: With the winter holidays approaching, the U.S. Postal Service notified the village that the Clifton Post Office would close Dec. 26.
“It hit us, out of the blue, two weeks before Christmas,” Clifton Village Council member Paula Lazorski said.
The closure stemmed from a long-running lease issue with the building that housed the post office — specifically, that the owner of the land on which the post office sat had not signed an updated lease since 2019.
Longtime postmaster Joyce Magill said she attempted for several years to persuade the landowner to resolve the situation, but was unsuccessful — in fact, Magill said, she was never able to make direct contact with the landowner. With the lease still unresolved, the Postal Service made its decision to close the location, but the timing and quick closure caught Clifton residents off guard.
Most Clifton residents received their mail through post office boxes; only a small number have rural route mailboxes at their homes. When the post office closed, those who held Clifton boxes were told to retrieve their mail in Yellow Springs, and though Yellow Springs is only a handful of miles away, it was a change that created a significant challenge for some residents, according to Clifton Village Council President Anthony Satariano.
“For the seniors in particular, it was a huge inconvenience,” he said, and added that the closure arrived without any consultation with Clifton’s Village leadership.
“[USPS] said they were conducting a study,” he said, “We’re on Council; nobody reached out to us to say, ‘Is there an alternative? What are your options? Here’s what’s coming.’ Nothing.”
Nevertheless, an alternative presented itself in Clifton’s former firehouse, which is attached to the Senior Center and was previously leased to Miami Township Fire-Rescue. Last year Satariano, on behalf of Clifton Village Council, petitioned Miami Township Trustees to terminate the lease so that the building could one day house the growing Preservation Society of Clifton, and the trustees agreed. Having the space available was the first saving grace for residents following the post office’s closure.
The second is that, in Clifton, neighbors tend to work together to make things happen; with just under 150 residents and a smaller pool of repeat volunteers, the village nonetheless coordinates and hosts weekly music performances — currently at Clifton Presbyterian Church, until Clifton Opera House’s renovation is completed in December — and a large, annual music and arts festival. With similar elbow grease and determination, within weeks, the new village mail station began to take shape.
The Village purchased materials, and residents Jim Fiessinger and Lee Nicewaner handled the construction.
“It was an open, bare room,” Lazorski said. “And they put up furring strips. They put up the siding. They did all the electric, the lighting.”
Villagers worked together to install their post office boxes, which they had removed from the old post office, into the new space. Fiessinger, who does woodworking, carved a wooden American flag that hangs on one wall, over a small table and chair that invites folks to stay a while for conversation within the now-climate-controlled room. Parcel lockers were added so residents could receive larger packages. Lighting and electrical equipment were donated by Baker Electric. A bulletin board gives residents a place to post notices. Soon, a new sign designed by a villager will adorn the station’s outer wall.
During the mail station’s opening celebration last weekend, villagers acknowledged that the party was bittersweet: Though the post office boxes will now remain in Clifton, the new mail station doesn’t offer full postal services, and residents must still travel elsewhere to buy stamps or send packages.
“We’ve tried to make it as independent as possible, but we do have limitations,” Lazorski said.
More importantly to residents, however, is that the closing of the post office meant the forced retirement of postmaster Magill.
“Anywhere else, she would just be the postmaster, but to us, she’s Joyce — she’s a wonderful person, she’s part of our community,” Satariano said. “So we took it personally when they kicked her out of her job.”
Magill said that within her nearly 20 years as postmaster, folks from nearby towns would routinely travel to the Clifton post office to mail packages or buy postage, particularly on the weekend.
“They didn’t have to wait in line here,” she said.
And, Lazorski added, the people were friendly — the post office was a kind of daily meeting place for community members to say “hello,” ask after family and catch up. She said she hopes the new mailing station will be, too.
“Really, it’s not even much smaller than the post office was,” Lazorski said, looking around the new mailing station. “It’s great.”
Satariano added: “It takes a village.”
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