By Casey Nolen
Rockwood, IL (KSDK) - A small town in Illinois is fighting to hang on to its identity, and the fight is with the U.S. Postal Service.
People in Rockwood, Illinois can trace the history of their post office back to the 1830's, and they say it means more to the town than just mail service.
"It's the lifeblood of the community," said Rockwood's Mayor and former Postmaster of 30 years Virginia Mansker.
But the Postal Service has Rockwood's post office on a list of 3,700 possible closures in an effort to cut costs.
Mansker is writing letters and passing petitions to try and save the post office. She worried that losing the post office could mean the end of Rockwood as people there know it now.
"They don't realize, the people that are trying to make these decisions, what rural living is like," she said. "We are a community."
And that community could fall apart she said, without its post office, one of only two buildings still standing at the intersection of Illinois Highway 3 and County Road 5.
"It's just going to kill what's left of the town," said Mansker.
The Postal Service is still taking public comment on which post offices should close.
Mansker is calling her congressman to try and get a public meeting scheduled with the Postal Service.
KSDK