1855-57 3-Cent Imperforate Cancel Query

Hello,

I'm trying to figure out the town name in this cancel, but so far have had no luck. I don't have an image of the whole cover, but I believe it was mailed to Iowa or Nebraska.

The stamp is from plate 5L (97R5L), so it almost certainly was mailed in the 1855-57 year range.

The letters that I can make out appear to be OOLCRA or OOLGRA, but I'm not sure about the R and A.

Any help with figuring out this town would be much appreciated.



(Edited topic title)

Partial looks like "...OOLCRA...". The letter partially visible before the "O" looks like is has a vertical right side - like an "H". Now, how about that NOT being the first letter.

A complete guess, but the name "SCHOOLCRAFT" rang a bell and there is a SCHOOLCRAFT in Michigan. There may be another 1000 possibilities. At least it is someplace to start. GOOD LUCK!!!

Jim Forte's webpage allows you to search for a text string in post office names. There are only two post offices with "OOLCRA" - Schoolcraft Michigan and Schoolcraft MN. The MN office did not open until 1905, so it must be Schoolcraft MI

add on - here is a link to Jim Forte's webpage with the search capability. If you know the state, you can also search for a text string within a state
https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp

Thanks for the excellent research and quick replies, mootermutt987 and SPQR! I was shown this cover at a stamp club meeting last night, and the owner didn't know the town in the handstamp. He'll be happy to know when I pass this on to him today.

Be sure to tell him how you found it. Teach him, make a convert.

I would add that the same capability also exists on the stamp Smarter website for more modern post offices. You can find the 'Zip Code' popup tool at the bottom of every page and it supports a 'partial' town/city search feature.
I am not sure how many covers Jim's database has, but the Stamp Smarter database has over 50,000 US cities and town names.
Don

Thanks, Don. I'll make a note of that.