ST. LOUIS • For years, two portraits of Jordan W. Chambers graced a wall of the tiny postal station named in honor of the late black political leader.

Chambers, an early advocate of racial integration, rose to become a prominent player on the national political scene. When he died in 1962, this newspaper referred to him as the "Negro mayor of St. Louis."

The half-century-old brick post office named in his honor sits on Garrison Avenue, just west of downtown; it's a cramped office that serves a low-income neighborhood. The undated, black-and-white pictures hung just above a pair of interior doors.

Until someone complained.

U.S. Postal Service policy, it turns out, bans such portraits, part of an effort to standardize the look of all post offices. Even presidential portraits have been removed. And so the pictures of Jordan W. Chambers had to come down.

"Post office lobbies are required to look a certain way, and that does not include a photo of an individual," said Valerie Hughes, spokeswoman for the Postal Service's Gateway District, which includes St. Louis.

The policy apparently wasn't enforced here until 2008, when Congress named a north St. Louis County branch in honor of William Clay Sr. Supporters sought permission to hang a picture of the former congressman in the building at 11001 Dunklin Drive but were denied. The Postal Service at the time issued a memo that prohibited renamed offices from hanging portraits. Instead, post offices were told that individuals would be recognized with plaques, Hughes said.

Congress has named postal facilities for individuals since at least 1967. In the area served by the St. Louis Main Post Office, nine of the 28 buildings that house branches and stations are named for individuals. A 10th will be renamed April 8 in honor of Earl Wilson Jr., founder of the Gateway Classic Sports Foundation.

Chambers, a nightclub and mortuary owner, served as 19th Ward Democratic committeeman for nearly a quarter century. From that position, he controlled black patronage and is credited with helping integrate the city work force. Harry Truman visited him. John Kennedy sought his counsel during the 1960 presidential campaign.

At the time of the 2008 directive, at least two other St. Louis postal facilities, in addition to the Chambers station, displayed portraits of their namesakes.

One was the Gwen B. Giles Station at 1409 Hamilton Avenue, named after the late St. Louis assessor and state senator. The other was the building at 7450 Natural Bridge Road named for longtime postmaster Vitilas "Veto" Reid.

Reid said in a recent interview that he learned from a nephew that his photo no longer hung in the Normandy post office.

"It hurt. Yeah, very much it hurt," said Reid, 82. "It takes something away from naming the post office after you."

Reid said that although he disagreed with the move, he hoped it was being enforced fairly.

"As long as it's universal, I can't complain about it," he said.

But even after the 2008 directive, the two portraits of Chambers remained on display in the post office at 901 North Garrison Avenue, just west of downtown,.

Then, someone — postal officials say they aren't certain who — complained.

On Oct. 14, 2010, Angela Bradley, customer relations coordinator for the St. Louis postmaster, sent a letter to the Chambers branch, saying she was made aware that the two pictures were still hanging and that the lobby needed to be in compliance.

A few months later, Bradley said, it came to her attention — again, the Postal Service says it's unclear how — that the photos of Chambers were still hanging.

The branch again was instructed to remove the portraits, Hughes said.

They finally came down a few weeks ago. Three nails and a tiny nameplate with the dates of Chambers' birth and death are all that remain.

Claims of the need for standard post offices seem to ring hollow at the Chambers branch. Dedicated in 1959, it offers few of the gift cards, bright packaging displays and other amenities that many other branches provide.

Vivian Brown, a longtime customer, questioned the removal of the photographs.

"Nobody's tripped on those pictures," she said. "If they were interested in making everything coordinated, they could have just changed the color of the frames."