You've Got Mail!

Early mail deliver in Northern Minnesota

His name was Patrick and he had bad feet. He had been a postal worker for a long time. He seemed old; I wondered if he rode for the Pony Express in 1860. Of course he didn’t, besides, Patrick was not the type:

"Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over 18. Must be expert pony riders willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.”





1893
Thief River Falls Times: NOTICE if you didn’t pick up your letter at the post office after it was advertised in the paper, it would go to the dead letter office in 30 days. The notice says that when you pick up your mail be sure to state it was ‘advertised’. (All the names were listed in the paper).

1903
Thief River Falls Times: A mail man in Ransom almost had his ear bitten off by a horse

February 1907
Thief RIver Falls Times: Soo Line Hauls the Mail

Thief River Falls Times: Post office receipts for 1909 is expected to reach $10,000, if so, mail delivery will be free in the city.


1911

Daily flights where made between Garden City and Mineola, New York, dropping mail bags from the plane to the ground where they were picked up by the postmaster



JANUARY 1913

Parcel Post begins. It was an instant success. In all parts of the country, enthusiastic advocates of the service celebrated by mailing thousands of parcels in the first few days. The effect on the national economy was electric. Marketing and merchandising through parcel post gave rise to great mail-order houses. Montgomery Wards was first with a one page catalog. Sears followed in 1893. They boasted the company was selling four suits and a watch every minute, a revolver every two minutes, and a buggy every 10 minutes.


MAY 1923
Thief River Falls Times: Peter Nelson, 35, was a section hand on the Soo railroad. He was struck by a large iron hook attached to a swinging crane while he was working with the crew unloading rails three miles south of this city on the mail line. His frontal bone was fractured and his face was badly disfigured. The blow was so violent that a piece of the bone from the injured man’s forehead was removed and later found on the ground nearby a while later.

Rosewood News Percy Hanson opens store. Hanson took over the stock at the Peterson General Store and will lease the store building. He will take over the post office at this place as there have been no applicants. If the position is not filled by Saturday, the mail route will be established out of Thief River Falls.

1950

Mail delivery was cut from twice a day to once a day.



Are you remembering that Christmas cards were addressed as:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith

City



Or in the case of Rosewood:

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Anderson

Star Route

City



What happened if their were two people by the same name in a town and something was addressed by name and city? Who got it? There were two Stan Ranum's in Thief River Falls. Mother would write, WRONG STAN RANUM and have Daddy bring it back to the post office to be remailed. We didn't get our mail at home; we had a post office box. We didn't have junk mail because Daddy threw it away before he came home.





Could we use Zip + 4 instead of the city, state?

What do those codes mean, anyway?

1. broad geographical area of the United States, ranging from zero for the Northeast to nine for the far West



2 and 3. digits that more closely pinpointed population concentrations and those sectional centers accessible to common transportation networks.



4 and 5. designated small post offices or postal zones in larger zoned cities.



6 and 7. denote a delivery sector, which may be several blocks, a group of streets, a group of post office boxes, several office buildings, a single high-rise office building, a large apartment building, or a small geographic area.



8 and 9. delivery segment, which might be one floor of an office building, one side of a street between intersecting streets, specific departments .



58103 2577

5=MID WEST

81= FARGO

03=PRAIRIE POST OFFICE



25=THIS ROUTE AREA

77=NORTH SIDE OF STREET



When zip code started in the late sixties, Lawrence, Kansas had two assigned; one for the city and the other for the college, 66044 and 66045. Leavenworth, Kansas was assigned 66048. As Lawrence grew, additional codes were needed. We lived in 66046, and the city had 66047 but because Leavenworth already had 66048, Lawrence got 66049. Someone did not plan ahead.

Lansing, Kansas has 66043 and Lecompton, KS has 66050. So how does a city zip code concept work in a place like Lawrence that is growing by leaps and bounds?







Are you remembering that a sealed envelope cost a penny more than unsealed? Do you remember if your family sealed their envelopes? Mother sealed hers; my grandparents did not.





Are you remembering that it didn't make a difference how small the envelope was? This was changed in 1980. Present standard is least 3 1/2" high and 5".



How many cards do you send by post office verses email cards? Is your snail list getting shorter as your electronic list gets longer? I have a friend in Wisconsin who thinks Christmas cards should be received in a mail box.



What about our on line buds that we don't know their address? We may not even know their town. It doesn't matter, does it?



Whether you are opening a post office box like Jimmy Stewart and Van Johnson, or hearing, "You've Got Mail" as Tom Hanks, staying connected is the goal.

Kudos to the postal service.

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