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Two decades ago this month, the United States Postal System opened its 72-acre National Center for Employee Development east of 24th Avenue SE on SH 9 in Norman.

It's grown to about 500,000 square feet of office and training space in addition to a 445,000-square-foot housing facility -- and with close to 1,000 smoke-free guest rooms is the largest hotel in Oklahoma.

The NCED contains classrooms, labs, conferencing, housing, food, fitness and health facilities.

It was an expansion of the USPS training already being done in Norman at the USPS Technical Training Center, which opened in 1969.

NCED Manager Scott Morgan said the facility belongs to the general public.

"It brings a lot of people into town and employs a lot of people," Morgan said. The facility also has been a favorite for area banquets and receptions.

In fiscal year 2008, NCED provided 336 courses to 377,200 people, an increase of 18 percent over the previous year. It has an annual operating budget of more than $50 million.

There were more than 23,000 residential students trained between three days to six weeks at the Norman campus.

Another more than 353,000 completed courses in their home post offices through field-site delivery, distance learning from the NCED's four satellite channels internal to the USPS and e-learning courses.

That training enables the USPS to deliver more than 212 billion pieces of mail annually, which breaks down to 700 million pieces daily.

The NCED supports postal operations and helps process, transport and deliver the mail, Morgan said.

With 650 employees, the NCED is the fourth or fifth largest employer in Norman, behind the University of Oklahoma, Norman Regional Health System, City of Norman and Johnson Controls.

NCED employees are active in United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Oklahoma Blood Institute blood drives and other charitable efforts.

It's impact goes further, with NCED students often brining their own vehicles or renting cars to explore Oklahoma on their weekends while here, Morgan said.

Americans are familiar with the low-tech, friendly face of the United States Postal System, delivering the mail by planes, trains, trucks, cars, boats, ferries, bicycles, hovercraft, subways. Even a mule train delivers to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.