Designed by German architect CL Engel, Storby’s Post & Customs House is now a hub for local artists, with exhibitions, artisan shops and a terrific cafe. The grand building was completed in 1828, during the era of Russian Tsar Alexander I, as a show of might to Sweden (as Åland was the Russian Empire's westernmost extremity at the time). It was a crucial point on the Sweden–Finland Mail Rd, detailed in the one-roomed mailboat museum.
Between 1638 and 1895, local farmers were called upon to transport thousands of letters each week across the Åland sea. The most treacherous time was early spring, when the sea ice broke. During the years the Mail Rd operated, 200 men from Eckerö died while undertaking postal service.
