The residential developments of Del Ray and St. Elmo were established in 1894, and in early 1895, the United States Postal Service approved a proposal to open a St. Elmo Post Office in what is today Oakville triangle.  When the Town of Potomac was formed, the Post Office was renamed Potomac Station.  By the late 1920s, the post office had moved to a new building at the corner of Mt. Vernon and Del Ray Avenues (now The Dog Store).  When the Town of Potomac was annexed into the City of Alexandria in 1930, the Potomac Station Post Office moved up the street to 2007-9 Mt. Vernon Ave (now Del Ray Picture Framing and Del Ray Balloon Boutique).

 

The Henry Knox Field Masonic Lodge Number 349 was chartered in early 1925.  It used the Town Hall of Potomac as its headquarters for two decades.  By late 1945, the lodge had raised the funds to purchase the lot at the corner of Mt. Vernon and Howell Avenues to construct a new headquarters.  The building permit estimated construction costs at $60,000, and it was designed from the start to house a post office on the ground floor.  Once construction was completed in 1946, the Potomac Station Post Office was the first to move into the building.  By 1952, the lodge was fully installed on the top floor of the building.  In the mid-1950s, the lodge rented out the middle floor to the Eastern Photographic Unit of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Cartography Section.    

 

Del Ray fell on hard times in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Lodge shared those hardships.  As the membership and fortunes of the Lodge dwindled, the building went into foreclosure in 1993.  The current owners purchased the property at the end of 1993.  Throughout their ownership, they continued to rent the ground floor to the Post Office, while other businesses occupied the upper floors.  As Del Ray began to prosper again and celebrate its history, the Potomac Station Post Office has been a reminder of the historic Town of Potomac.  To this day, Potomac, VA is still a valid postal address for the 22301 zip code.