BY BECKY WOOD, MANAGING EDITOR

Breathing new life into the long-vacant Federal Building on North Second Street, The Mailroom is the newest culinary addition to Downtown Clarksville. Built in 1935 as a United States Post Office, the building has served a variety of purposes over the last 87 years, including as a fallout shelter and a local FBI office. Having sat empty since the 2010s, the new restaurant by owner Wes Cunningham takes inspiration from the building’s beginnings.

“Back in the 1930s, to communicate with your friends and family across the country or around the world, you had to go into that post office,” said Cunningham. “You didn’t text them or hop on Facebook, you went to that building to learn about what was going on in their life. We wanted to bring back that spirit, where people could come back to this space and connect with people.”

Restoring much of the original charm of the New Deal-era space, The Mailroom boasts made-from-scratch meals, craft cocktails on tap and an expansive outdoor patio. The menu is full of classic American favorites, along with international twists and entrée options cooked on an Argentinian parrilla grill.

Each meal is capped off with a vintage Clarksville postcard to take home. “We wanted to do something to honor Clarksville and its history, as well as the history of this building, and send you home with something fun,” explained Cunningham. “Most people will agree that when you get a piece of handwritten mail nowadays, it means a lot.”

Above the open-concept kitchen, the restaurant pays an abstract homage to the original F. Luis Mora murals with a brand-new work by local artist Olasubomi Aka-Bashorun. The Abundance of Today by Mora showed Clarksville as it was in the 1930s, and Aka- Bashorun's mural brings that concept to modern day. As your eye moves from left to right, the piece adds more color, dimension and vibrancy – just as the city is always evolving and improving.

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