Old utility pole in Philadelphia says 'goodbye' with farewell letter

The wooden pole stood for years at the northwest corner of Federal and Third streets near Jefferson Square, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Stapled to it was a mournful, 150-word note that begins with "Good-bye."

"I just wanted to say it's been my pleasure to be your corner telephone pole for many years now. It looks like I'll soon be replaced. Probably by the young pole there on the ground.

"I hope to be made into furniture or at least toothpicks. Though perhaps I'll end up being burned. My smoke later filling your lungs and giving you cancers.

"Ha! Ha! Anyway...

"The neighborhood has changed over the years but I've always been here--holding street signs, electric wires, telephone wires, cable, a light and lately this transformer.

"The many staples are a reminder of the garage sales, flea markets and hundreds of lost pets. Sox, Cinnamon, Ponch and the rest, I hope you made it home. I hope I do too.

"It's been fun!

"Maybe a few months from now you'll say to yourself, 'I remember that old pole.'

"Thanks, The Corner Pole."

Journalist Brad Pearson brought the pole's demise to the attention of social media posters, tweeting Thursday, "Did not expect to be emotionally gutted by a utility pole this morning."

The first photo of the letter has been retweeted nearly 9,000 times.

A second photo was taken by Steven Schneider, who works for BrokenBase.com, a video game review website.

"In times like these, it's very, very easy to be cynical, so, when I chose to cut through this park on a whim and saw a heartfelt letter to the community from a telephone pole that had seemingly been around for decades, it made my day," Schneider said in an email to CNN. "Heartwarming little moments like that can really lift your spirits."

The pole is owned by PECO Energy Company, which confirmed the old pole will be removed and recycled through the company's wood recycling plan, company spokeswoman Kristina Pappas told CNN.

A new pole will be erected because a company that uses it will be upgrading its equipment and will need a more modern structure, Pappas told the network.

"We attempt to recycle as many replaced poles as possible, and through recycling they can be repurposed into other things, such as mulch," Pappas said.

So, it's just an old pole coming down. Why so much nostalgia?

"Philly's a lot more intimate, like each neighborhood is its own tight-knit community," Schneider told CNN. "Because of that, there's a real sense of sentimentality for anything related to a given neighborhood, even if it's for something as ordinary as an old telephone pole," Schneider said.

"Philadelphia has these little glimmers of weirdness that are pretty human," Pearson told the Inquirer. "And I don't think it exists in other places.

"There’s something universal about life and death and things changing."