The U.S. Postal Service’s decision to remove many workers from its payroll in 2012 has placed rural post offices in the shadow of looming cuts.

The Burley office may be one of them.

Kevin Lacombe is the president of the Burley Library Association, which formed in 1912. It is so named because of its role as a makeshift library in the early 1900s.

Locals commonly refer to it as the Burley Community Club, Lacombe said. The club handles the property occupied by the post office and the community hall next door. It leases the post office to the U.S. government.

“We’ve heard that they’re targeting small, rural post offices,” Lacombe said as he sat inside the community hall. “I’m hopeful that, because it’s not a government-owned building, it won’t be one of the ones that (is) targeted.”

At 4 p.m., the post office bustled with people coming and going. For Burley residents, the post office is more than just a place to drop off packages and buy stamps, it’s where they pick up their mail.

“To have a Burley address, you have to have a Post Office box,” Lacombe said. “Otherwise, you have a Port Orchard address.”

For many, there’s a certain pride in having that Burley address.

Burley, which sprang up due to the logging industry, was one of Washington’s original Utopian colonies that formed in the late 1800s. The community hall served as a main social center for colony members.

“There’s such a rich history of this particular spot in Burley,” Lacombe said. “I got interested in the history of the area because this property was part of the original colony. There’s people who don’t even know this is here. They don’t know there’s a park here, and a cemetery.”

During his research, Lacombe struck up an email friendship with Charles Pierce Warne, author of “Utopias on Puget Sound 1885-1915.” Lacombe’s historical interests led to his involvement in the community club, which was born from the land trust that formed when the colony disbanded.

The post office lease primarily funds the club and the functions at the community hall. The hall hosts lunches for seniors three days a week through Bremerton Nutrition Services, also known as the “chuck wagon,” and it’s rented out for other social gatherings.

“One of the things we do is serve meals to seniors free of charge,” Lacombe said. “Some of the people in the area don’t drive, and this is the only place for them to go. I don’t even know what we’d do if we lost the post office.”

Lacombe said the area’s ham radio club, located behind the post office, also could be affected if the post office closes.

Incoming club vice president George King said the hall also hosts Alcoholics Anonymous meetings three days a week, church services on Sundays, and it’s used by the Boy Scouts of America.

“We have various functions during the course of the year,” King said. “We have a Christmas bazaar and a community garage sale. If the post office closes, it’s going to have a profound effect on our ability to continue on as we are.”