One facility Susanville sorely lacked was a post office building. The Susanville Post Office was established in 1858, and was always housed in some commercial building, with the Knoch building housing it for decades. During the depression of the 1930s, the residents hoped the federal government would fund a post office building. They did. On March 1, 1937 the government purchased the residence of Stanley Wade on the corner of North Lassen and Nevada Streets for $6,750. Construction began that summer and the post office officially opened on June 1, 1938.