PB T E R R I T O R I A L M AG A Z I N E T E R R I T O R I A L M AG A Z I N E 19May, June and July 2019May, June and July 2019

Tby Dorothy Rieke

Thepostofficesinourruralar-easnotonlybroughtmail toourboxes, theyprovidedacommuni-cations’ center where residentsvisitedwhile theywaited for themail to be placed in their boxes.Communicatinginthisway,peo-plewithneeds,quicklyfoundthatthose needs were met by theirneighbors. Afewyearsago,Iwaswalkingalongthestreetsofavillagelocat-edacrosstheroadfromourfarm.AwomanleftherhouseasIbegantowalkalonghersidewalk.Sheexclaimed, “Wedonothaveany-

thing to eat. She explained thatherhusbandwastoreceiveare-tirementcheck,buthehadnotre-ceivedit.Iaskedthewomantowalkhomewith me. Once there, I openedmy freezer and took out chickenbreasts, bread and corn. Placingtheseinalargesack,Iaddedpota-toesandcannedfruit. Adaylater,myhusbandvisitedwithneighborsat thepostoffice.Neighbor Paula asked, “Do youthinkshewouldtakefoodifItooksomeover?” Myhusbandreplied,“Yes”. Thatsameday,shedelivereda

This Nebraska City building served as post office for many years. Currently, it is a bank.

During the Thirties, this building served as post of-fice for the village of Julian, NE.

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lishedinBostonin1639.Atavernowner, Richard Fairbanks, pro-cessed mail sent to or deliveredfrom overseas. He received onecent for every letter he handled.During this time, some tavernownerswerelicensedtoprovideapostalservicetothirstycustomers. Officially, the United Statespostal systemwas established bytheSecondContinentalCongress.Benjamin Franklin, ever inven- tive, was appointed Deputy Post- master General in 1753. At thistime,hehiredcontractorstohaulcommunications by horse or onfoot.Heestablishedasystemthatcontinues to this day to engage

manyofhisideas. As time passed, Franklin es-tablished more efficient colonialroutes reducing delivery time inhalf between Philadelphia andNew York.Mail wagons travelednightanddayusingrelayteams.Healsostandardizeddeliverycostsbased on distance and weight.While in this position, Franklinimproved the mail system withroutesasfarsouthasFloridaandasfarnorthasMaine,aswellasthe service between the coloniesandBritain.In1789,therewere75postofficesinthecolonies. Even before the Declaration ofIndependencewassigned,theUnit-edPostalsystemhadproveditself.Forexample,duringtheAmericanRevolution, itwasresponsible fordeliveringmailbetweenCongressandthemilitarymenfightingforourindependence. With operational freedom, thepostofficeusedanumberofmeth-odstodelivermail.In1785,privatestagecoacheswerehiredtodelivermail. Later,mailwas carried onsteamboats, railroads,andbyde-liverycompanies. Ahighlyorganizedmailsystemestablished by Augustus Caesarwasa relay system that remindsusoftheearly-dayPonyExpress.Mounted couriers rode horseson the empire’s well-constructedroadstorelaystationscalledpost

cardboardboxfilledwithcansofmeatsuchasstew,spaghetti,sal-mon,andothers. Whenoursmalltownpostofficeclosed,welostsomethingvaluabletoourwayoflife.Ourdailycom-munications ended,making eachofusfeelalone. Lookingathistory,wediscovermany ancient civilizations, such as the Chinese, Egyptians, Assy- rians and Persians, had well-organized mail systems whichaided rulers in governing theirextensive empires. In those days,onlygovernmentofficialsusedthemailsystem,mainlybecausemostpeoplecouldnotread. In fact, the followingquote re-fers to the courier service of theancientPersianEmpire: “Itissaidthatasmanydaysasthereareinthewholejourney,somanyarethemenandhorsesthatstandalong theroad,eachhorseandmanattheintervalofaday’sjourney,andthesearestayednei-ther by snow nor rain nor heatnordarknessfromaccomplishingtheir appointed course with allspeed.”Herodotus,HISTORIES These early mail systems em-ployed runners or mounted cou-riers at intervals along majortransportation routes. At times,messages were carried over onehundredmilesperday. Thefirstpostal systemknownin the United States, was estab-

This building currently serves as post office for Nebraska City residents. -

This Clarinda, Iowa, post office is located several blocks from the famous Promenades, streets 100 feet wide, two blocks outside of the public block in all four directions.

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houseswhereanother rider onafreshmountrodetothenextposthouse. Soon, these couriers werecarryingprivatemail inadditiontoofficialmail. The Pony Express inAmerica,operatingin1860-’61,carriedmailfromSt.Joseph,MissouritoSacra-mento,California,inabout10days.These riders, like the Romans,stopped at relay stations whereothers carried the mail pouchesonward. Of course, down through theyears, the development of trans-portationimprovedthespeedandreliabilityofmaildelivery.In1864,thefirstrailwaypostofficewases-tablished.Postalclerkssortedmailonspecialtraincarswhiletrainsmovedfromtowntotown.Devic-escalled“catcherarms”attachedto thesemail carsenabledclerkstopickupmailsacksfromtownswhilethetrainsmovedpast.Sacksoflettersweretossedontherail-wayplatformstobepickedupbypostalworkers. Before 1897,mail in larger cit-ies was generally delivered byhorse and wagon or carried onfoot. Postmaster General JohnWanamaker, taking note of Eu-ropeancities’mailingtechniques,tookalessonfromthesecitiesandbeganconstructionofan innova-tiveunderground system to sendmailincapsulesacrossthecityofPhiladelphia.Thissystemutilized“pneumaticposts.” Private companies constructeda system of pipes undergroundthroughwhichmailwouldtravel.These tubes,measuring6.5 inch-es,carriedmail3/5ofamile. Soon, other cities such asNewYork,Chicago,St.Louis,andBos-ton were installing these mailtubes. New York’s system movedsixmillionpiecesofmaileachdayat30mph.BecauseofthesizeofNewYorkCity,thissystemwasca-pableofmovingoveronehundredpostaltubesfor130milesevery15seconds. In the next years, othermeth-odsevolved.Airplanesandtrucks“came into play”, deliveringmailtopeople.Newtechnologiesmeant

This post office is in Auburn, Nebraska.

This 1911 Neo-Classical building in Kearney, Nebraska, now Mona-Museum of Nebraska Art, was once a post office

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deliveringmailfartherincheaperways. Mary Fields, six foot, two-hun-dredpound former slavebecamethe first African-American toworkinapostofficeinMontana.Shebeganherworkattheageof60yearsoldafterprovingthatshecould hitch a team of six horsesfasterthananyoneelse. WhentrafficmeterswerefirstinstalledinCalifornia,amanre-ceivedaspeedingticketinthemailthatincludedhisphotoasproofofguilt.Angrythathewasfinedbe-causeofacamera,hemailedbackapictureofthemoneyrequiredtopaytheticket.Weekslater,hewasmailedaphotoshowingapairofhandcuffs. Somevaluableitemshavebeensent through the United Statesmail. For example, in 1958 theHopeDiamond,valuedat $200 to$250millionwassenttotheSmith-sonianbywayofUSPSinabrownbox.In2006,prisonerRichardLeeMcNairrepairedmailbagsinpris-on.Oneday,heclimbedinsideoneandmailedhimselfoutofprison. Until 1915, itwas legal tomailababybyU.S.mail. In1914,MayPierstorff’s parents paid 53 centsmailing the five-year-old to hergrandparents. She rode in themailcarandwasdeliveredtohergrandparents’ home by the mailclerk. Today, 40,000 post offices andpostal services are delivering 212billionpiecesofmaileachyeartoover144millionhomesandofficesin the United States and its pos-sessions.Sevenhundredthousandworkersareemployedinthepostalsystem.Withthisnumberofwork-ersandavarietyofmeans,mailisalwaysdeliveredusingeverything“fromplanestomules.” Especially, in the Midwest,manypostofficeshavebeenclosedmainly for economic reasons.Truthfully, thishashadquiteanimpactoncommunities.Localpostoffices have many advantages.Their employees answer ques-tions about postal products andservices, mail is generally deliv-ered earlier to post office boxes,

generaldelivery isavailable,andspecialservicesareavailablesuchascertifiedmail,registeredmail,delivery confirmation, signatureconfirmation,andinsurance. Today, the unofficial creed ofpostal services, “Neithersnownorrain nor heat nor gloom of nightstaysthesecouriersfromtheswiftcompletion of their appointedrounds” continues to be the rule.TheofficialPostalService“motto”issimilar:“ThePostalServiceshallhaveasitsbasicfunctiontheobliga-

tiontoprovidepostalservicestobindthe Nation together through thepersonal,educational,literary,andbusinesscorrespondenceofthepeo-ple.Itshallprovideprompt,reliable,andefficientservicestopatronsatall areas and shall render postalservicestoallcommunities.”Today,postal officials are facing many challengingproblemsandmakingbigchanges,butthepostalsystemcontinuestobeknownforitsreli-ability,affordablerates,andtrust-edservice.