Hollywood
Green Tree

Hollywood
Mable Wimberly
Return to Post Office History Index

The Hollywood Post Office was established May 22, 1926. George A. Friedembloom was the first Postmaster and the office was located about where Hollywood Inn is now--1961. Friedembloom operated a store and had come from Hollywood, Florida so that name was given to the office. Had he foreseen the future with 14 Post Offices in the United States with the same name he might have named it differently. There are still 13 post offices with this name in the country.

In 1932 E. E. Miller became postmaster and moved the office to the Miller farm just east of the present highway. As the community grew and the highway came the office was moved to the highway. When Miller retired in 1946 Alorie V. Young was appointed and the office had advanced to third class. She moved it to a very small building where there were only thirty boxes. New equipment  was hard to come by as these were the days following World War II. In 1947 Mable Wimberly became a clerk in the office and when Mrs. Young resigned two years later, Mrs. Wimberly became Postmaster. 

From those days of "home made" equipment and heat with a kerosene stove a great improvement is seen in the smart modern office with its bank line equipment and pale green walls. This office was dedicated September 6, 1958 and replaced a building which had been rendered useless when the highway came within one inch of its front door. Grown to second class the office employs three clerks besides the Postmaster and copes with much missing mail which results from so many offices bearing the same name. Not many celebrities in dark glasses stroll the streets of Hollywood, New Mexico, but this thriving Post Office serves its patrons well in this land of the tall pines, cool summers and deep snows.

Mable Winberly continued to serve as Postmaster at Hollywood, New Mexico 88345. The Post Office continues to grow, and was now second class office. The building was enlarged to take care of 652 boxes. Today more boxes are needed. 

The United States Postal Service decided it was not feasible to have two second class offices in the same village; therefore, in 1971 the Hollywood office was combined with the one in Ruidoso, resulting in a first class office. Hollywood was made a classified finance station.

After serving as Officer-In-Charge of the offices for nine months, Mable Wimberly returned to Hollywood as Station Superintendent and served until her retirement in June 1973.

She states that she had been blessed with good help. Fran Luallin, the regular clerk in the Hollywood office was advanced to Assistant to the Postmaster, and Jo Leland was advanced to regular clerk.

After almost twenty-seven years in the office, Mrs. Wimberly said those were most regarding one, and that she would always be glad that there had been a Hollywood, New Mexico.

Green Tree
Dorothy Parnell

In the summer of 1933, H. V. (Heck) Johnson viewed his inheritance and recognized it as an exceptionally desirable location for a town site. The eighty acre tract of grass land, approximately four blocks wide, is bounded on the north by the Ruidoso River and stretches across U. S. Highway 70 southward to the base of the mountain where Hale Spring is located. The remnant of a prehistoric irrigation ditch, recognizable from the mineral deposits of the water, make it evident that this spring had furnished water to irrigate field for an ancient tribe. In some laces the base of the ditch is ten feet across and rises six to eight feet in height. Its origin is unknown but is believed to be the achievement of Indians who preceded the Apaches, perhaps thousands of years ago. Old graves and other signs of pre-historic life indicate this area was at one time an Indian settlement. 

Johnson soon had the town site of Palo Verde surveyed and began selling lots with water rights for domestic use to be taken from Hale Spring. There was such an abundance of water that the first settlers irrigated gardens and orchards and two sawmills operated with water from the spring. As the building boom grew and the sawmills thrived the population increased to about 500.

The need for civic advancement was pressing and a committee was appointed with Lem Coltharp, chairman, to secure a local post office. The application for the office was filed with the Post Office Department in Washington, D. C., in the spring of 1946 and a Postal Inspector was sent to investigate the needs. Nothing further was heard until a bonding company in Washington, D. C. wrote to Mrs. Dorothy R. Parnell congratulating her on her appointment as Acting Postmaster at the newly established office at Palo Verde, New Mexico. The Department  stipulated, however, that the name must be changed to the English translation Green tree, because there were already several Post Offices bearing the name Palo Verde, such as Palo Verde, California, for which Mr. Johnson named his town; Palo Verde, Arizona and Polvadera, New Mexico. A Palo Verde, New Mexico would cause confusion so green tree it became.

The Post Office was to be in operation in three weeks and there was no building available. In zero weather a building was erected and on January 16, 1947, Star route carrier Perfecto Sanchez delivered mail to green tree Post Office instead of to numerous boxes along the route. The first day proved a difficult one for the new Postmaster. No supplies had arrived and the office was opened for business with blank money order forms and a LA Key for mail pouches. Postal Inspector Eugene C. Courtney suggested the Postmaster secure postage stamps from the Postmaster at Hollywood, supplied money order applications and C.O.D. forms. Gladys Nosker, Postmaster at Glenco, contributed a blank page from her cash book and loaned a Postal Postal Guide. With this borrowed equipment the office operated until supplies arrived.

Mrs. Parnell received her commission as Postmaster September 23, 1948  and has served in that capacity since. When the office advanced to third class July 1, 1950 Harkey A. Parnell, the Postmaster's husband, was appointed substitute clerk with a total of two work hours per week. A room eleven by thirty feet was added to the Parnell building for housing this office. 

Strangely enough, at one time the post office for Ruidoso was located in the building next door to the present Green tree post office. Mrs. Florence Johnson, mother of H. V. Johnson, was Postmaster and the office was in her home. this was the year 1911 and mail was carried by horse and buggy from Hondo.

At a special election called by the Village Councilmen February 1, 1958 the citizens voted in a large majority to change the name of the Village from Green tree to Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico, but the Post Office  department did not add its sanction until late in August. On October 1, 1958, by decree of Postmaster general Arthur E. Summerfield, the post office of Green tree, New Mexico, officially became Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico.

Transcribed by C. W. Barnum ©2005