Ribbon cutting day! The USA's Smallest Post Office is finished! Visitors got to take a look at the newly rebuilt Wheeler Springs Post Office during the annual Wheeler Gorge Visitor Center open house Saturday, May 3rd, 2025.
An unveiling and ribbon-cutting on the historic structure recently brought back by volunteers happened at the nature center approximately 8 miles north of Ojai. Along with reintroducing the structure once listed by Ripley's Believe It or Not! as "The USA's Smallest Post Office," the open house offered a chance to learn about the forest and to explore the visitor center operated by nonprofit Los Padres Forest Association.
They talked about all things Los Padres at booths set up by local organizations, agencies and other friends of the forest while enjoying barbecued burgers, Mister Softee ice cream and other food and drinks. Smokey Bear and Forest Service staff from the Ojai Ranger District were also on hand. They also got ultralight backpacking tips with Gossamer Gear Ambassador Paul "Beeman" Cronshaw. They won forest-related prizes featuring donations from REI, Patagonia, Cuyama Buckhorn, LPFA and more.
The post office, getting its big reveal following two months of construction led by retired U.S. Navy Seabee David Rich, is a near-exact replica of the structure originally built by Webb Wilcox in 1935 that served as many as 80 families in the Wheeler Springs area until the early 1960s. The structure was consumed and destroyed by the 2017 Thomas Fire, but now it's back thanks to donations used to purchase construction materials, a $1,000 grant from the Rotary Club of Ojai West, and the work of more than two dozen volunteers.
The Wheeler Springs Post Office, with signs crafted by local sign-maker David Sinclair of Alojai Creations, now resides about a mile and a half up the road at the Wheeler Gorge Visitor Center, 17012 Maricopa Highway.
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