Former Des Plaines Post Office, Des Plaines
Designed under Supervising Architect Louis A. Simon, the former post office later housed the Journal & Topics newspaper and is being cleared...
Watchlist Blog
Des Plaines loses its 1941 post office to a delayed apartment project
Demolition erased a federally designed civic building that served mail customers and a local newspaper, leaving state documentation and unresolved questions about its New Deal-era murals.
June 26, 2026
Former Des Plaines Post Office, Des Plaines
Updated 2026
The former post office at Graceland and Webford came down in June after an approved mixed-use project stalled for two years. A six-story replacement is planned.
Des Plaines' 1941 post office is now a demolition record. Crews were removing the Colonial Revival building at 622 Graceland Avenue in late June, clearing the northwest corner of Graceland and Webford for a long-delayed mixed-use development.
The building had two long public lives: first as the city's main post office through 1974, then as the Journal & Topics Media Group headquarters from 1987 to 2023. Illinois documented it before demolition, but recordation did not retain the civic structure itself.
Track more Chicago-area losses in Watchlist Blog.
Historic recordation preserves evidence of the post office, not the post office itself.
What Was Lost
The federal building opened in 1941 under the design authority of Treasury Supervising Architect Louis A. Simon. Its lobby, sorting floor, federal offices, and community room supported both postal work and civic activity.
The former lobby also contained two James Michael Newell frescoes. Their imagery and disposition require explicit follow-up rather than letting the art vanish from the demolition narrative.
Documentation Is Not Preservation
Illinois completed Historic Building Survey documentation in 2024, creating a durable record of the building's form, history, and changes. That record is now essential evidence.
It is also a record of loss. Drawings and photographs support future research but cannot reproduce the building, its materials, or the public experience of the former lobby.
What Comes Next
The approved development has evolved from an earlier seven-story concept to a six-story mixed-use building with apartments, a restaurant, and parking. Construction timing remains the next practical milestone after demolition.
Editorial follow-up should confirm the murals' location, final unit count, public-space commitments, financing, and whether a cleared downtown site moves promptly into construction after the project's two-year delay.