MacDonald Engineering constructed the building, with the assistance of the Civil Works Administration (CWA), one of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs. The post office, which also housed a variety of Federal agencies, opened for business in 1934. The land for the post office was acquired in 1931 from Katherine Kincart Coughlin, Riverside Realty Company, and the Board of Washoe County Commissioners. A portion of the site was occupied by a Carnegie Library, demolished to make way for the post office.