Daily News Journal, Brian Wilson, February 16, 2015
Although the Milton Post Office has limited hours Mon – Fri 1-3 and 8:30 – 11 on Saturday it is still open 6 days a week. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
Michelle Eastman needed to stop by the Milton post office one afternoon last week, but knew she had limited time to do so.
The community post office with its original P.O. Boxes and wooden front is only open two hours each weekday.
“The history is great, but the convenience of it being here is better,” said Eastman, a Milton resident. “I wish it had better hours, but it’s here.”
The unincorporated area in the rolling hills near the border of Rutherford, Wilson and Cannon counties with its history, buildings and established families.
“My family’s new to the community,” said Charles Goodman, a dermatologist who practices in Murfreesboro. “We’ve only been here for 40 years.”
While Milton’s strong families are still in place, the symbols they feel make the community are at risk of going away. In turn, the town and its leaders are willing to fight to try to keep its longtime identity in place.
Michelle Eastman uses the Milton Post Office to mail a package. The
mailboxes at the post office are original to Milton Post Office. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
Milton was established by the early 19th century and was the site of a Civil War battle in 1863, said lifelong Milton resident and unofficial community historian Harris Hooper.
The area remained largely agricultural in the decades after that, even as development started coming into the northeast part of the county after World War II. When Milton was recognized as the best small community in the state in 1949, there was a clinic, bank, garage, post office, three churches and two or three stores in the community.
“They just had a strong community with good leadership,” said Hooper, whose family had Milton ties prior to the Civil War. “Everybody wanted to do their share. It was just something to be proud of.”
Over time, many of those community symbols receded as businesses closed and a newly built State Route 96 skirted the central part of Milton. When the last iteration of the country store closed in 2011, the area had the three churches and the post office that had taken over another one of the store it had shared for years.
“When it was a growing community, it was a real gathering place for everyone,” said Delia Goodman, who moved to Milton with her husband John in 1975.
Delia Goodman collects some eggs and holds one of many chickens that she and her husband Charles E. Goodman Jr. have on the Goodman Hollow Farm in Milton. (Photo:
HELEN COMER/DNJ)
While residents said the area has always been a peaceful, rural one, losing those establishments weakened the pulse of the unincorporated community, Hooper said.
“When you don’t have a gathering place to go to, you start to lose your identity,” Hooper said.
As additional community landmarks have shown signs of weakening, keeping Milton’s character became a priority for its residents.
When the post office reduced its open times to two hours during weekdays and three-and-a-half hours on Saturdays, it became all the more important to some residents to do their business at the post office and keep revenues up.
Charles Goodman specifically goes to the Milton post office to get all of the postage for his practice and keep stamp sales higher for the outpost.
That push to keep Milton’s remaining post office in place took hold when its voting precinct at the community fire hall was threatened. The polling place, established when Murfreesboro was still the state capital, is one of the oldest in Tennessee, Hooper said.
Delia Goodman shows off some of the eggs collected at the Goodman Hollow Farm in Milton. (Photo: , HELEN COMER/DNJ)
When the Rutherford County Election Commission closed a voting precinct at the fire hall in Milton in 2013, about a dozen residents came to the board and called for the precinct to be restored.
“It’s true we’re one of the small set boxes in the county, but we’ve got one of the highest voting rates,” Goodman said.
The election commission eventually voted to redraw the precinct lines and open the polling place in time for the 2014 votes. In November, they had the fourth highest turnout rate in Rutherford County.
Like they had before, Milton residents came together and showed why they’re still proud of where they live, Charles Goodman said.
“We like to think we’re a cohesive community,” he said.
Contact Brian Wilson at 615-278-5165 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @brianwilson17.
Knight’s Store: An old Hooper family picture of Knight’s Store and Post Office in the 1950’s. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
The Milton Country Market remains vacant. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
The Hoopers framed the minie ball from the Battle of Milton, that was found in the roof of the Bilbro /Hooper family home. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
Penny and Harris Hooper show off a 58-caliber minie ball, on Friday Feb. 13, 2015, that was found in the roof
of the Bilbro/Hooper family home in Milton. The minie ball was fired into the home during the Battle of Milton
on March 20, 1863. The entry hole of the projectile can still be seen in the eve of the balcony. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
An old photograph of the Miltoin Post Office in the early 1900’s. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
A marker for the Battle of Milton can be seen along Hwy. 96 in Milton.(Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
An old Hooper family picture of Downtown Milton in 1954. According to a note under the photo Rakes Garage is on the left and Old store and Cherry’s store are on the right. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
An old Hooper family picture of a volleyball game between young boys of Miltion in 1951 behind the Garage and Old Blacksmith Shop. (Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)
Around About Rutherford
This story is part of an occasional series profiling the cities, towns and communities of Rutherford County. If you know where The DNJ should go next, email Brian Wilson at [email protected].