Edison First Day Brings High Price! - New Jersey Postal History ...

Gene Fricks & Jean Walton ~ TRENTON P&DC - Anthrax Site Gets New BeginningFig. 4. A very brittle Pep Boys card addressed to Princeton Junction, NJ, which has been irradiatedat Bridgeport, NJ following the anthrax contamination at the Hamilton Township facility. It wassent on to the recipient in a “body” or “ambulance” bag. Note the chips and pieces.The closing of the Trenton P&DC facility in New Jersey was a hardship for both the PostOffice and the postal workers. Postal employees were reassigned to other offices, in SouthRiver, Monmouth, and the Kilmer Facility. The Stamp Fulfillment Center in Kansas City wasthe first to reopen, as only a few spores were found there, and it was operating again onNovember 14, 2001. 7 There was some hope that the Trenton facility would be reopened in early2002, but that soon proved to be unrealistic. It was decided that the Hart Senate Office Buildingwould be decontaminated first, and that lessons learned there would then be applied to bothBrentwood and the Hamilton Township facility in New Jersey. The Hart Senate Office Buildingwas reopened in mid-January, 2002. 8 Several fumigations with chlorine-dioxide gas wererequired, and both the Brentwood and Trenton facilities were remodeled after decontamination.Decontamination of the Trenton facility did not begin until Brentwood was close to reopening inDecember of 2003, 9 and was reported to be underway in Linn’s in November of 2003.Fumigation and remodeling of the New Jersey facility were completed at a cost between $80- to$100 million, a new biodetection system was put in place, and all former employees were invitedto resume their positions. Most, but not all, were willing to return.So we welcome back the Trenton P&DC, 10 and trust that it will indeed be “better than ever.”Meanwhile as postal historians we note that it was a New Jersey postal facility that was the point oforigin for a deadly act of bioterrorism in the U.S. mailstream.Vol. 33/No. 2NJPHWhole No. 158105May 2005