A $150,000 appropriation was approved by the United States Congress in legislation passed in 1902 for property for a new post office.

The building was designed by James Knox Taylor of the United States Treasury Department staff in 1908 and construction began the following year.

The Des Moines architectural firm of Wetherell & Harrison drew up plans in the early 1930s for a large addition to the south, but no money was appropriated for it.

[2] Both the original building and the 1935 addition are steel frame structures faced with limestone and built on a granite base.

It features large semi-circular arched windows, tall smooth columns, simple entablature, massing, materials, and classical detail.