diff --git a/streetaddress/streetaddress.py b/streetaddress/streetaddress.py
index 1906712..c3d94f4 100644
--- a/streetaddress/streetaddress.py
+++ b/streetaddress/streetaddress.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ def __init__(self):
     def parse(self, addr_str, skip_house=False):
         addr_str = addr_str.strip()
         res = {
+                'attn': None,
                 'house' : None,
                 'street_name' : None,
                 'street_type' : None,
@@ -41,33 +42,42 @@ def parse(self, addr_str, skip_house=False):
                 'suite_num' : None,
                 'suite_type' : None,
                 'other' : None,
+                'po_box': None
+            
                 }
 
         tokens = addr_str.split()
-        start_idx = 0
-
         if len(tokens) == 0:
             return res
-
-        if skip_house:
-            start_idx = 0
-        else:
-            if tokens[0].lower() in self.text2num_dict:
-                res['house'] = six.text_type(self.text2num_dict[tokens[0].lower()])
-                start_idx = 1
-            elif self.rec_st_nd_rd_th.search(tokens[0]):
-                #first token is actually a street number (not house)
-                start_idx = 0 
-            elif self.rec_house_number.search(tokens[0]):
-                res['house'] = tokens[0] 
-                start_idx = 1
-            else:
-                #no house number
-                start_idx = 0
-
-            if res['house'] and len(tokens) >= 2 and tokens[1] == '1/2':
-                res['house'] += ' ' + tokens[1] 
-                start_idx = 2
+        
+        #go through tokens of address and change spelled out addresses to numeric
+        for x,tkn in enumerate(tokens):
+            if tkn.lower() in self.text2num_dict:
+                tokens[x] = six.text_type(self.text2num_dict[tkn.lower()])
+        
+        #find first numeric token, 
+        start_idx = findNumeric(tokens)
+          
+        #if tokens contain PO BOX:
+        if next((True for i, v in enumerate(tokens) if v.lower() in ['po','pobox','apo','boxnumber', 'box']), False):
+            res['po_box'] = tokens[start_idx]
+            return res
+        
+        #anything preceding first numeric token assume to be a name (ie - John Doe)
+        res['attn'] = ' '.join(tokens[:start_idx]) if start_idx >0 else None
+
+        #first numeric token is actually a street number (not house)
+        if self.rec_st_nd_rd_th.search(tokens[start_idx]):
+            pass
+        elif self.rec_house_number.search(tokens[start_idx]):
+            res['house'] = tokens[start_idx] 
+            start_idx = start_idx + 1
+            
+         #account for half addresses (5 1/2)
+        if res['house'] and len(tokens) >start_idx+1:
+            if tokens[start_idx + 1] == '1/2':
+                res['house'] += ' ' + tokens[start_idx + 1] 
+                start_idx = start_idx + 1
 
         street_accum = []
         other_accum = []
@@ -177,6 +187,20 @@ def get_text2num_dict():
         'ninety': 90,
         } 
 
+#test if the first character of a string is a numeric
+def is_number(currString):
+    try:
+        int(currString[0])
+        return True
+    except ValueError:
+        return False
+
+#return the first token that has a numeric as the first character, any preceding tokens assumed to be attn: strings
+def findNumeric(tkns):
+    return next((i for i, v in enumerate(tkns) if is_number(v)), 0)
+    
+
+
 
 ########################################################################
 # StreetAddressFormatter
@@ -250,4 +274,3 @@ def abbrev_street_avenue_etc(self, addr, abbrev_only_last_token=True):
         addr = ' ' . join(word_lst)
         return addr
 
-