Are These 1885 Cancels For The Same Town?

Are these cancels, West Brattleborough, Brattleborough, for the town of Brattleboro? I see there are two other town cancels, Adams Mass. and Hinsdale NH. (the oldest continually-operating in the same building post office in the United States)

Brattleboro and West Brattleboro are different towns and post offices. Both are located in Windham county.

According to Jim Forte's PO List, Brattleboro was active 1784-1842 and then 1888 to present.
Between 1842 and 1888, the name was spelled Brattleborough.

West Battleboro was active 1892 to 1900, when it became West Brattleboro Station, a station of Brattleboro. similarly, West Brattleborough was the name used 1832 through 1892.

Google maps shows it lies 1-2 miles west of Brattleboro.

Mike

Edited to insert information about "Brattleborough"

Thanks Mike! That must have been a little frustrating to the towns people changing the town name back and forth

I just found a cover with a postmark with Brattleboro from 1883. That doesn't match with Fortes book.

I looked in the Postal Bulletin to see if they reported the two name changes between 1880 and 1888 and found the following in the Postal Bulletin for September 13, 1888 (Issue 2601)



The Postal Guides between1885 and 1888 each show the spelling as Brattleborough, and it is finally reported as Brattleboro in the 1889 edition.

I also found an entry in the July 8, 1886 issue of the Postal Bulletin which identified the name as Battleboro in a notice about a mail route change.

This was a Presidential class post office after 1849, so the Post Office Department would typically provide the devices. Perhaps they knew of the pending change and issued the device with the future name as an economy measure.

Mike

Edited for grammar.