Post Office Closes In Small Minnesota Town

STEEN, MN - It's a town of 180 people, with 70 homes, a City Hall, a vehicle repair shop and a church for parishioners to worship. But now the small town of Steen Minnesota, is without its post office.

"It's kind of the death of the town, you know," resident Mildred Keunan said.

Mildred Keunan has lived in Steen nearly her entire life, and visited the post office quite often.

"Everyday, when there was mail, yeah," Keunan said.

Vanbatavia says the post office wasn't getting enough business in the small community, and that many residents have mailboxes outside of their home, leaving fewer boxes in the post office. 

"There was only like 20 boxes left in the post office, and for years you could have your choice, you could have a rural route box or a box at the post office," Mayor Melvin Vanbatavia siad.

But the post office isn't the first business to close on Main Street here in Steen, in fact in the past 20 years other businesses have been shutting down as well. 

"We've lost a lot of stuff, the elevator and the feed store, and the bank, there was a branch bank and that's gone," Vanbatavia said.

And even though Keunan says she still loves living in Steen, with another landmark in the town closed, it's sad news for everyone who's seen the businesses on Main Street dwindle.

"It's too bad, It's one less building on Main Street, there's just not a whole lot to keep us together anymore," Keunan said.