US Mail Delivery Pictures

A few pictures that I have accumulated that may be of interest.


1864 Union Army Mail Wagon 2nd Corps



1896 Mail Streetcar



1906 Columbia Mail Coach Baltimore, Maryland

A few more



1885 Pullman Railroad Post Office (RPO)



Steamboat Providence on Hudson River 1870



1900 Rural Free Delivery Greenfield, Mass

What a great collection, are these postcards, or from various different sources? I think collections like this add so much depth to a collection of stamps.

The baltimore image,
would that be an electric car?

Stampgal, I not only collect U.S. stamps but post office history. This pictures come from the National,Archives.
rod222, yes the Columbia was electric and they also supplied a larger truck to the post office.

Edit: This is the large gasoline powered Columbia truck at post office in Washington, DC. Both pics from 1906

Russ: for a few years my uncle had a rural postal route. Horse and buggy in the summer, cutter (sleigh) in the winter. He told me once that from the barn to the midpoint of the route the horse dragged its feet but from there back to the barn he could hardly hold the horse back.

I grew up in the small village of Teeswater in southwestern Ontario, which was the western terminus of Candian Pacific Railway's Teeswater-Orangeville route. At Orangeville it would meet the mainline trains making the run into Toronto. I still remember the horse and wagon leaving our local post office (Mr. Donahue was the postmaster for years) to rush to the station where the bags would be thrown on to the mail/baggage car just before the patiently waiting, huffing and puffing steam engine would pull the train from the station. I was lucky enough to ride in that car once. I also got to ride in the caboose once as far as Wingham, which was the first stop. Sadly the route disappeared many years ago.

I highly recommend two books, namely Magnetic North: Canadian Steam in Twilight and Steam Trains to the Bruce for anyone interested in the train history of the area. Great photos and as the song goes "thanks for the memories".

Russ,

The third picture from 1906 shows a typical mailbox. The design seems not to have changed in over 100 years. That is if you can still find one. The one by me two block away from was recently removed. Not sure way.

your missing BLUE BOXES.

A chunk of the article...
Across the country, stalwart blue "collection boxes" like the one on Flack Street in Wheaton are disappearing. In the past 20 years, 200,000 mailboxes have vanished from city streets, rural routes and suburban neighborhoods -- more than the 175,000 that remain. In the Washington area alone, half the blue boxes that were on the streets nine years ago have been pulled up and taken to warehouses to molt in storage or be sold for scrap, leaving 4,071 mailboxes remaining in the District, Northern Virginia and the Maryland suburbs.

Here for the whole thing if you liked what you read.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...2403857.html

What is even more distressing is the demise
of the electric car.
it is hard to know the real truth, but to see
all those lovely EV1 cars crushed in dubious circumstances
gives off a stench of US big business tactics.

I thought so

the crank handle gave it away.

More early Post Office Dept pictures


Washington DC 1912



Chicago 1890



New York 1904


Parcel Post 1914

Great pics!

In the same spirit, but not quite...

The plane that crashed with my 'crash cover' on board:


Postcard Dad picked up somewhere long ago:


For giggles, this is the cover that was on the plane:
(addressed to my G'pa)

@rod222:
EVs are overrated.
They are very dirty environmentally.
Things like needing constant recharging via coal generated electricity,
transferred over a dilapidated power grid that can hardly stand the load
now, into several batteries full of heavy metals, that need replaced often.

They make great sound bites and funny commercials about polar bears hugging hippies.