Dpo - Dead Post Office - United States

Knowing about Dead [sometimes Discontinued] Post Office [DPO] is important for Precancel collectors as well as those whom collect postmark cancellations.
However, there is often a great deal of confusion on what is a true DPO. Many of you have discovered this situation finding it frustration. Many of your guide books may state in one form or another that the PO in question is close, now a DPO, but you notice something to the contrary.

First, I've referred "Ghost Towns" 5th ED. 1963 by Harrington Adams, using information from this guide can help organize in groups.

Group 1) Grammatical/Spelling DPO's; This group is subdivided into additional smaller groupings.

A. Spelling Changes. Examples Peterboro became Peterborough, NH, Earl become Earle, AR, Center became Centre, AK, all maybe pronounced the same, the earlier PO now listed as a DPO.

B. Spilt/Combined names. Examples Deertrail became Deer Trail, CO, Bunkerhill becomes Bunker Hill, KS, Red Lake becomes Redlake, MN, all pronounced the same, the earlier PO now listed as a DPO.

C. Omission/Addition, Examples Mackinaw became Mackinaw City, MI, Mount Morrison becomes Morrison, CO seeming minor omissions &/or additions create a new DPO.

Group 2) Subordinate, These are PO's that at one time were full fledged offices that became subordinate to a central City PO be can call the Urban subordinate type, while the Rural subordinate type were placed under a larger near by PO/Town when the town could no longer justify a separate Postmaster.

Group 3) Consolidated, This can when two nearby like towns merge their governments or PO's together generally for economic reasons.
Examples: Bethayres-Huntingdon Valley, PA, Timonium-Lutherville, MD, so now the earlier individual town PO's become DPO's.

Group 4) Name change, Examples Hot Springs, NM became Truth or Consequences, NM; Wacker, AK became Ward Cove, AK; Kilbourn, WI became Wisconsin Dells, WI.

Group 5) Ghost Towns, This is a town & PO that no longer exist.
Only one good example I can find is Dana, MA which was abandoned for a new reservoir. Other real Ghost towns may fall under Group 2, Subordinate but the records would still only show that the area serviced would be assumed by the nearest still operating PO.


I'm sure this is clear as mud.
Keep in mind this is principally for precancels though possibly useful for postmark/cancellation collectors.

Keep this indeed,
an articulate and well thought out commentary,
great stuff. Thanks for posting.

I think that Ellenton, SC might fall under the ghost town category. The town was moved to make way for the construction of the Savannah River Plant in the early 1950's ( The plant was constructed to make Plutonium). The new town was named New Ellenton.

This is certainly a fascinating topic. Warrehouse touched on one quote I'd like to expand upon, though:




Being a Massachusetts native, I've always been fascinated by the four towns that were drowned in the 1930's to make up what is now the Quabbin Reservoir. The towns were Dana, Enfield, Prescott and Greenwich, Massachusetts.

On a stamp collecting theme, as far as I know, only Enfield had ever used a precanceled stamp (though considered quite scarce today). Also found this picture of the Enfield post office a year before it was discontinued:




Every now and again local media does a story on the region. For anyone who is interested in further detail, this is a great site with links to some pictures of a long forgotten time:

http://www.westfordcomp.com/quabbin/

Wow! a Woody to die for!

You kind of expect to see the Beach Boys somewhere near by.

Thanks everyone for your kind statements!

I'll have to look into info on Birds IL, which I have a precancel for. According to a plat book from 1934-1935 the population was 51 and mail went to Minooka IL. The current location of Birds is pretty much an Interstate 55 rest area in Will County. There are no homes or any other sign of residence near the site that I recall.

Here are a few other towns that no longer exist in Illinois along Route 66: Hampton, Ballard, Insane Asylym, Fogarty, Hurlbut, Selbytown, Starne, Cotton Hill, cimic, Thomasville, Irwins Park, Lefton, Decamp, and Byrneville. I am unsure if any of these communities had their own Post Office.