Bench offers place to reflect, honor veterans

DOVER — When members of the city's Historical Committee heard the city would be getting a new post office, they wanted to do something special to commemorate the occasion.

They quickly came up with a plan to install a bench near the front door in honor of the community's veterans, committee member Joe Gibbs said.

“We thought it would be good for us to do something,” Gibbs said. “Someone who actually wasn’t even on the committee came up with the idea for a bench to honor our veterans.”

The committee embraced the idea, and it didn’t take long before the plan was presented to the Dover City Council. It quickly received a “yes,” and Historical Committee members headed to Miller’s Country Store to pick out a bench.

The process took about a week, and the craftsmen at Miller’s needed about two weeks to build the solid wood bench. What took the longest — several months, in fact — was navigating the bureaucracy to get the bench approved by government officials.

“The painful part has been waiting for the certificate of occupancy,” Gibbs said. “We got the bench in May, and we’re just now able to install it.”

The bench adds a finishing touch to the Dover post office, which opened for business in mid-March and held a grand opening ceremony March 20 that drew officials, residents and Postal Service employees.

During the celebration, Mayor George Eskridge paid tribute to the city’s residents, former Dover officials and others who worked to not only keep a post office in the community, but also to create the new facility. The city nearly lost its post office in 2008 when the Postal Service couldn’t negotiate a lease with the building’s owner and announced plans to close the Dover facility and operate out of Sandpoint.

The Jackson Avenue facility marks a return to the post office’s original location after 16 years in the city’s former fire station. The post office moved there in 2008 when Dover was given two options — receive service from Sandpoint or have a variety of post office boxes scattered around the city.

Instead, city officials proposed a third option and rallied the community and state officials to support the move to the former fire station. However, as the city grew, it became clear a larger, more permanent facility was needed.

Eventually, it became clear the best location was back at the original site. Former Mayor Annie Shaha negotiated the purchase of the lot in September 2018, 10 years after the city nearly lost its post office. While plans were shelved in August 2022 due to higher-than-expected bids, more favorable market conditions led to a bid within the city’s budget, and construction began in March 2024.

Seeing the bench outside the completed post office is special, Gibbs said.

Situated outside the front door on the Jackson Avenue entrance, the solid bench offers a comfortable spot to people-watch, enjoy the day or visit with friends. It also serves as a constant reminder of what the community’s veterans have done — not only for Dover and Bonner County, but for the country as a whole, Gibbs said.

“I hope people use it and recognize that it honors veterans,” he said. “I hope they see how much of a sacrifice they gave for us, for our freedoms. That’s really important to us.”