[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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