[MUSIC] [MUSIC] >> the castle museum building was built in eighteen.

ninety-eight to be a post office.

at the time the federal government thought all of their post offices should reflect the people who first settled in a region.

sadly, they did not consider native americans.

the first white settlers who arrived in the saginaw valley where french for traders and missionaries.

so the architects look to french toes for inspiration.

[MUSIC] they also tried to think about things that made saginaw different from france.

they added gargoyles another decorative elements that were supposed to be based on local flora and fauna.

they also added a steep slope growth so that snow could slide off and not build up some of their design choices.

make us wonder if the architect ever even explored our local landscape for themselves.

saginaw was a bustling and growing region and it turned out that a french chateau design was not the most practical design for a post office.

so the volume of mail became too much for the post office to handle.

and the government wanted to build the new post office.

but the people of sagging all loved their landmark castle and didn't want the building torn down.

so they fought to keep it.

the government finally agreed to expand the current building to create more room for sorting the mail.

and the newly expanded post office opened in nineteen thirty seven.

the expansion included the museum's current lobby with its cover team, marble walls, toronto floors and paneled ceiling.

as you walk through the lobby, you can still see the display windows that once were places to mail packages and letters, even with the expansion.

the city soon outgrew the post office again.

but the people of saginaw once again did not want their castle torn down.

the government decided the new modern building was needed.

so they built a new post office in the nineteen sixties just down the road.

the castle building was turned over to the county and eventually it became the castle museum of saginaw county history.

in nineteen seventy-nine, this program was made possible by a grant from cta community telecommunications network.