It was an ordinary day. 245 years ago, on July 26 of 1775, the United States postal system was established by the Second Continental Congress. On that day they announced that Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General. It was Ben who put in place the foundation for many aspects of today's mail system. In 1753, at the time when he was the postmaster of Philadelphia, Ben Franklin became one of two postmasters generals for the colonies.
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Benjamin Franklin
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He made numerous improvements to the mail system such as setting up new, more efficient colonial routes and cutting delivery time in half between Philadelphia and New York by having the weekly mail wagon travel both day and night via relay teams. He also began the first rate chart with standard delivery costs based on distance and weight. But, in 1774 the British fired Franklin from his postmaster's job because of his revolutionary activities. Didn't matter since the following year, as I have written earlier, he was named the first Postmaster General of the United States. He only held the position for a year when he was sent to France as a diplomat. The Postal System in North America actually began in the late 1600s when mail was carried by friends, merchants and Native Americans to homes and businesses near where they lived. Most American colonists didn't have a need to send mail. At the time most correspondence was with letter writers in Britain when mail would arrive from across the Atlantic Ocean and find its way to the recipients months later. At the time there were no post offices so mail was left at inns and taverns until picked up by it addressees. In 1673 Governor Francis Lovelace created a monthly postal service between New York and Boston, Mass. Ten years later William Penn open Pennsylvania's first post office. Then on July 1, 1863, free mail delivery was authorized in cities where income from local postage as more than sufficient to pay all expenses of the service. Within a year from it's beginning, free delivery of mail by salaried letter carriers was offered in 65 cities nationwide. Then in 1902, delivery of special delivery items was made mandatory from offices that were open on Sundays. 1913 saw the start of first and second-class for Post Offices that had to provide for Sunday delivery of special delivery mail. Today, there are over 40,000 post offices in the United States which deliver 212 billion pieces of mail each year to over 144 million homes and businesses in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, the American Virgin Islands and America Samoa. The postal service is the nation's largest civilian employer with half-a-million career workers. The postal service is a not-for-profit, self-supporting agency that covers its expenses through postage stamps and related products. Everything from mules to planes are used to deliver the mail today. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - The following photos show mail delivery throughout history. |
1910
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1914
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1940
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1961
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1961
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1964
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