Community Corner

Viewfinder: Boxes for the Eye, Memories (and Mail) in Sammamish

The city on the Plateau has mailboxes that mirror its rural roots and suburban present.

One of the best things in life, as we know, is getting to a place. Or just wandering around once you're there.

So, when I'm driving around Sammamish to interview people or find the right address, I often keep my eyes out, yes, on the road and for what's next to the pavement.

Why?

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I often wonder whether those great holders of letters, pamphlets, memories, newspapers, documents and packages will become obsolete. You figure that the rise of the digital world, especially the pixels and PDFs, is changing, at warp speed, the creation, distribution and consumption of information.

You know, the mailbox.

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As you know, I'm a former newspaper journalist. So, I'm very aware that, well, the economy changes and vehicles that can hold and distribute information can disappear, morph, become memory.

So, I thought: I'd like to take photos of all the great mailboxes I've seen in Sammamish. Sound funny? Pointless? There is some thought behind this: The city straddles a rural-suburban context.

The mailboxes that I've seen reflect that. Some remind you of an industrial era in which steel was just about the king of the world. Some point to the rural charm that Sammamish offers.

Others mirror what a family or person was thinking at the time - and was willing to do with a box to hold letters. I like the one with handprints on it. Talk about memories.

Some have locks on them. Others just have a lever - and a sign of the times when people wouldn't steal other people's mail. In the past, I've seen a mailbox that looks like R2-D2 from Star Wars. Google has a great variety of mailbox photos, as does bing (yes, I know I'm in Microsoft territory).

So will mailboxes eventually disappear?

I don't know. I know many people still rely on them, especially since it's a traditional way to receive information. And some, I know, prefer them over the digital world. But I do know the U.S. Postal Service has been dealing with lower volumes of mail - and has talked about cutting back service.

In any event, here's what I saw on the side of the roads and streets in Sammamish on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011.

History?

Your guess is as good as mine.

At least, when someone down the road is looking for photographs of mailboxes used in the 21st century in Sammamish, that person can pull these up.

On a smartphone, of course. At warp speed.

Editor's note: My thanks to Lisa Davis of for letting me snap some photos of mailboxes inside her business. If you missed last week's Viewfinder photo gallery, you can see young people fly through the air at the Sammamish Commons skatepark.


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