[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 17, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H5954-H5955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EVA G. HEWITT POST OFFICE
Mr. ROUDA. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 1526) to designate the facility of the United States Postal
Service located at 200 Israel Road Southeast in Tumwater, Washington,
as the ``Eva G. Hewitt Post Office''.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1526
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. EVA G. HEWITT POST OFFICE.
(a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal
Service located at 200 Israel Road Southeast in Tumwater,
Washington, shall be known and designated as the ``Eva G.
Hewitt Post Office''.
(b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation,
document, paper, or other record of the United States to the
facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be
a reference to the ``Eva G. Hewitt Post Office''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Rouda) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.
General Leave
Mr. ROUDA. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on this measure.
[[Page H5955]]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. ROUDA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of
H.R. 1526, to designate the facility of the United States Postal
Service located at 200 Israel Road Southeast in Tumwater, Washington,
as the ``Eva G. Hewitt Post Office.''
Eva Hewitt was not just a business woman and postmaster, but she was
often described as the heart and soul of Tumwater.
With her husband, Charles Hewitt, Eva established the Hewitt Drug
Store which housed the Tumwater Post Office. Eva Hewitt started as an
assistant, and later assumed the role of postmaster in 1915. Following
the death of her husband in 1927, Eva Hewitt took over business
operations of the drugstore with the help of her daughter, Laura.
Eva would continue to serve as postmaster until 1942. At the time,
Eva Hewitt was the longest serving postmaster in Tumwater, where she
oversaw a massive growth in the volume of mail in the Pacific
Northwest.
Eva Hewitt also was a community leader and was widely regarded as
Tumwater's local historian. She was also active in the Daughters of the
Pioneers of Washington and was the namesake of the Eva Hewitt
Orthopedic Guild. The Hewitt Drug Store was eventually demolished for
the construction of Interstate 5.
Naming a post office to honor Ms. Hewitt's public service would help
ensure that her pivotal legacy to her home of Tumwater, Washington,
lives on.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KELLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1526 introduced by
Representative Heck. The bill names a post office located in Tumwater,
Washington, after Eva Hewitt.
Eva Hewitt was Tumwater's first female postmaster. Before becoming
postmaster, Eva and her husband owned and operated a drugstore in the
small town they called home. The drugstore housed the Tumwater Post
Office, and Eva started working there as an assistant.
In 1915 she assumed the role of postmaster and served there nearly
three decades. Following the death of her husband in 1927, Eva took
over the family business and served in both positions until her
retirement in 1942.
Often described as the heart and soul of Tumwater, Eva was a
community leader and a local historian. She spent her free time
researching, preserving, and educating the public on the history of the
Pacific Northwest.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I
reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROUDA. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
distinguished gentleman from Washington (Mr. Heck), who is the sponsor
of the legislation.
Mr. HECK. Madam Speaker, today indeed I do rise in strong support of
H.R. 1526, a bill to honor the life and legacy of Eva G. Hewitt by
renaming the Post Office in Tumwater, Washington, in her honor.
A few blocks from where we stand today is the Smithsonian Postal
Museum, a museum that preserves and promotes postal history from every
era. In it you can read about the rural letter carriers. This is
personal with me. As it turns out, my grandfather was a rural postal
delivery member of the post office from 1905 to 1944. Out of Henrietta,
Texas, he for many years delivered the mail on horseback. One of the
biggest days of his life was when he got a Model T. He, in fact,
delivered letters right up to the day he died in 1944. You can read
about him and a lot of other people in the museum.
Most notably you can learn about the women trailblazers who built the
postal service into what it is today, women like Sarah DeCrow who in
1792 became the very first woman postmaster; or Ethel Hill, who in 1900
became the first woman listed as a full-time rural delivery carrier.
This year, in celebration of the city of Tumwater's 150th
anniversary--they call that the sesquicentennial--they are sharing many
of the stories there about their own women trailblazers, women like Eva
G. Hewitt. She was indeed Tumwater's first woman postmaster during a
very pivotal time in Tumwater's history. So it is fitting to rename the
post office for her.
In 1893 she and her husband, Charles, purchased that drugstore
alluded to earlier right in the heart of Tumwater, and their drugstore
became known as Hewitt Drug Store. It was the center of the community,
and it housed a store and, yes, a soda fountain, and the post office,
all under one roof.
She started as an assistant there, but--get this--prior to that time
her husband was the postmaster, but it turns out when the Postal
Service adopted civil service rules, she and her husband both took the
examination. And guess what?
She passed; he didn't; she became the postmaster in 1915. It sounds
like something that would happen in my home.
So following the death of her husband in 1927, she took over the
business and served there until her retirement in 1942. She was the
very first person to hold the position of Tumwater postmaster. At the
time of her retirement she was also the longest serving postmaster in
that city's history which dates back to 1824.
During her decades at the store, she saw a massive growth in mail
volume throughout the Pacific Northwest. As a matter of fact, she once
remarked that the volume at the Tumwater Post Office in terms of
monthly mail in 1942 was equivalent to annual mail at the turn of the
century.
Yes, indeed, the store was torn down and the post office was torn
down to help make way for Interstate 5, the main arterial between
Canada and Mexico that runs throughout the West Coast.
Although the drugstore may be gone, her legacy isn't. As postmaster,
as business woman, and as community member, it lives on. So I was
delighted when the city approached me about this long overdue
recognition for Eva. Very few post offices, let us note, are named for
women, much less the women who carried out the mission of the Postal
Service.
In fact, take note, of the 823 post offices that have been renamed,
only 98 of them have been renamed for women--less than 12 percent. We
have got a parity issue here, Madam Speaker. That is why I am even more
than proud to introduce and support this bill.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Olympia Tumwater Foundation for
helping to tell Eva's story. I thank the city of Tumwater for sharing
her story with our community. And I want to thank all the members of my
delegation who joined in to cosponsor this. Eva has earned her place in
the South Sound history books that she helped write.
Madam Speaker, it is my honor to support this bill to rename the
Tumwater Post Office in her honor, and I urge my colleagues to support
this legislation.
{time} 1600
Mr. KELLER. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge my
colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mr. ROUDA. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from
Washington for his comments and also encourage all of the Members to
support this bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Rouda) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 1526.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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