Unbelievable! Check out this incredible image of the Department of Commerce under construction from the top of the National Press Building looking down 14th Street. Willard Hotel at right. From Shorpy.com.

Did you know the Commerce Department is built on top of an ancient pirate ghost river? Or that lost alligators once wandered the halls?

In 1982, the United States Post Office launched a new system dubbed E-COM as an attempt to adopt the then-nascent technology of electronic mail. This story looks at the effort and the battles fought to bring the vision into production.