13 Things That Happened Before The Forever Stamp
I believe you can see the post cards. The first one is dated Nov 23, 1909 and being sent to Master Harold Smith in Carroll, Ohio. (I guess Carroll, Ohio only had 1 Master Harold Smith) and the second was sent to Mr. Mike Knopinski of Chicago Illinois (he needed a full address) on June 13, 1912, almost 2 full months after the Titanic sank. Funny, but there's no mention of the sinking in Miss Mary Karpensky's very truly post. We probably think about it more today than they did on June 13, 1912.
But anyway, the sinking aside, how did Miss Mary's postcard from Stevens Point, Wisconsin get to her buddy Mike (in care of Mrs. Hallis) from Chicago, Illinois, you may ask. And I'll tell you, I answer.
1. In early America, people depended on friends, merchants, and Native Americans to carry messages between the colonies. However, most letters were exchanged between the colonists and England prompting the first official notice of a postal service in 1639. Richard Fairbanks' tavern in Boston was named the repository for overseas mail.
2. After the Boston riots in September 1774, the colonies began to separate from the mother country. A Continental Congress was organized at Philadelphia in May 1775 to establish an independent government. One of the first questions before the delegates was how to convey and deliver the mail. Benjamin Franklin was appointed chairman of the committee to establish a postal system and was then appointed the first Postmaster General under the Continental Congress. In 1789 Samuel Osgood becomes the first Postmaster General under our Constitution.
3. In 1823, navigable waters were designated post roads by Congress. Several years later, railroads were labeled post routes as well.
4. The dead letter office was created in 1825 and is still going strong, immortalized in more romance movies than the femme fatale.
5. And here, the news that you've been waiting for: (ta-dah!) The postage stamp was created in 1847, but there was still free local city delivery. As for across the country, you can see on the postcards, they cost 1 cent in 1909 and 1912.
6. They take to saddle to cross the country -- the pony express started in 1860.
7. That old standby, money orders were announced in the mid-late 1860's. Domestic money orders started about 1864 and international ones in 1869.
8. Special delivery was announced in 1885, which probably meant they used a fresh horse to carry your letter across country.
9. In 1893 the first commemorative stamps were issued. Mr. Webster then had to come up with a name for people who collected stamps: "Stamp collectors" People who STUDY stamps are called "Philatelists".
10. Carriage of mail by airplane is sanctioned between Garden City and Mineola, NY in 1911; Earle H. Ovington is the first U. S. mail pilot.
11. Mail Insurance and Collect-on-delivery (COD) are used beginning in 1913.
12. In 1916 the Postal Inspectors solve last known stagecoach robbery, putting an end to the glory days of Butch and Sundance.
13. The first bag of mail traveling across the ocean happened in 1920.
And here, just because I found it fascinating, the years we were introduced to:
1955- Certified mail
1960- Facsimile mail
1963- ZIP Code
1977- Final run of railroad post office on June 30
(precursors of e-mail:) 1980- INTELPOST (high-speed international electronic message service) and 1982- E-COM (Electronic Computer-Originated Mail, electronic message service with hard copy delivery
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31 comments:
This is excellent information, Laura. I need to read up more on the dead letter office. :)
I don't know much about the dead letter office either. Darn it, now I'll probably get a story idea. :-)
Given the condition of a catalog (that I wanted to look through!) that arrived today, I'd be quite happy to go back to the days of the Pony Express. At least they didn't mangle things!
Or did they?
Great info. Thanks for sharing them.
Thanks for the visit too.
I love historical thirteens, and you didn't even get into the advent of junk mail!
Very interesting information. :)
Thanks!
Your TT is my favorite so far this week. Fantastic!
Another great TT. Where do you find this stuff? No, don't tell me. You know it, so I don't have to.
And isn't there something poignant about Diana's face being cancelled?
Excellent TT, very interesting. It's so nice to read lists where people have gone to a lot of trouble.
Absolutely fabulous and informative. Thanks for stopping by this week.
I love to get snail mail and have a soft spot for my mailman.:>
I wonder what Benjamin Franklin would have to say about junk mail...
Very cool post - I will have to share this info with my dd - she gets to go on a field trip to the "sorting" office in a few weeks and see how they sort the post here.
Oh my you're more of a history geek than I am!
Thanks for the kind comments on my blog. I don't think my audience likes it when I'm not funny. Oh well. My blog.
Hugs.
That's interesting stuff! I collect Dutch stamps myself and the international postage I receive I save the stamps for a friend.
Thanks for visiting my Robbie TT.
That's a very interesting TT!!!
I learn some of the most interesting things on Thursdays. :D
Great TT
~X
I like your list!! I always enjoy learning something new - and about stamps!! :)
Take care and happy day today.
Interesting. I've gotta admit, the Pony Express is the only bit of postal delivery I knew about.
So you guys have the forever stamp there in the States as well, eh? It was just introduced here in Canada at the beginning of the year and I think it's a great idea!
pretty interesting stuff.
Wow this was facinating. Thanks so much for doing all the work it must have been to put this together. Gonna make my son come home and read this.
Happy TT!
http://moondancerdrake.livejournal.com
Cool List (and what lovely kitties you have).
Great info, and I love the pictures of the stamps! I used to have a collection, but it appears to have gotten misplaced in many moves. Maybe it was given away? Darn. Now I shall be sad.
Happy TT!
Very fascinating to me! Great post.
Talk about a ton of information. Wow!
Strangley I was trying to find out how much a pony express rider carried the other day.
Great list :-)
What a wonderful history lesson. Have a great TT. :)
Wow, this is really interesting. Very cool TT! :-)
It's cool to see the transformation of stamp through out time!!
Excellent TT! I'm fascinated by magicians - I'm all thumbs and could never pull off any kind of sleight of hand.
Fascinating list. Thanks for stopping by my TT.
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