February 10 (1941) - First Highway Post Office

I thought it was interesting to note that "On This Day in History" -- February 10th -- the first Highway Post Office was inaugurated in 1941 as shown by this image of a cover released for the first run going between Harrisonburg, VA and Washington, DC:



Of course, HPO's didn't "take off" until after World War I, as this "retro video" points out:

http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhi...movie.html#1

Still, I wonder how many collectors have Highway Post Office cancels and covers. Surprisingly, many of the "First Trip" covers can be had for less than $1, so although it seems they are quite common, they are nevertheless a part of US Postal History.

I mainly collect RPO's but do have a bunch of HPO's. I usually get them if they sync to my regional collecting areas, otherwise I pass on them. There are a bunch of people that collect these things (The Mobile Post Office Society is the US group that specializes in this tangent). Most of the HPO's that you see for sale are unique as they are made for collectors on the first or last days of service. Finding one that was actually used on a piece of regular mail (non-collector) is very rare. I am not sure, but don't think they actually cancelled much on these buses, they primarily sorted them for the proper destination (I could be wrong on this last statement). I can post a few if interested, but will be later when I get home.

Nice cover and interesting link!

Nice cover wt1

I just got my first HPO cover only about 7 or 8 months ago. Now I have about 4 or 5 of them. They are a nice specialty.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Like! I have a few HPO's and RPO's. Of course, I try to incorporate them into my route 66 topicical collection. My favorite's seem to be between Chicago and LA or Chicago and St Louis. If anyone comes across any inexpensive covers that might fit into my topic, please let me know.
The 8 states for Highway 66 were IL, MO, KS, OK, TX, AZ, NM, CA.