The Lincoln times., 1955-01-31
History Of
Rural U.S..
Mail Service

Nall 1eNlCe
At Charles Town. w. Va, on Oc-
tober l, 1896, there began the first
successful rural mail delivery SER
vice in the United States.
If there is anything to the no
ton that the Muse of History
seems to favor some places with
more than fair share of her
wares. the Charles Town expert
ment demonstrates it quite well.
Only few miles away at Shep-
herdstown in the same Jefferson
County. w. Va, James Rumsey's
1874 steamboat successfully churn-
ed against the racing current of
the Potomac River; across the
street from the small Charles
Town post office in the Charles
Washington Hall was the Jail
where John Brown had languish-
ed and been hanged. Close by was
Harper's Ferry, where the John
Brown raid against the slave own
ers had been made.
The three strapping young West
Virginians who readied their
horses at Charles Town for that
first rural mail delivery, were Har-
ry c. Gibson, Frank Young, and
John Lucas, with rural routes l.
2 and 3 out of Charles Town, each
about 18 miles long. Keyes Strider
started from Halltown, on a 12-
mile route, and Melvin T. Strider
(still living, Incidentally out of
Uvilla, on 20-mile route. Their
salary was 5000 a year. There were
no cheering crowds that morning;
at most few onlookers and Post
master George Flagg.
Plans for the rural service had
been presented to Congress by
Postmaster General John Wanna
maker in his 1891 report. CONGRESS
ignored a $6,000,000 appropriation
proposed for the purpose. In 1893
it appropriated $4,000, and in
1894, $4,000 more. Another $l0.-
900 was approved in 1895, and
with this $4,000 the great "ex-
pertinent was begun.
The Postmaster General in 1895
was William L. Wilson. a former
member of Congress and profess
sor of ancient languages in Wash
ington. West Virginia was his
home: hence, he chose that histor-
ical location tor the experiment.
In reporting on the first week of
operations. Charles Town Post
master Flagg said that "the car
riers delivered 214 letters. 290 pa
pers. 33 postal cards. and two
packages, and returned for mailing
Is letters and two packages "
If the rural delivery service was
slow in getting started, the same
can hardly be said for its progress.
Indicative of the value of the ser
vice was the rapid growth which
marked it from the first.
In the first nine months of op-
Grafton the service was extended
to 83 routes out of 43 offices in 20
states. BY 1899. in approximately
three years, routes began to ex-
tend thru whole counties. Carroll
County, Md. being the first. BY
1902 there were 8,298 routes COW
ering 186,252 miles. In 1907 mile
age coverage had zoomed to 800,-
900 miles.
Today, there are more than 32,-
900 routes serving more than 49,
10000 customers over more than
q million and a half miles of
routes. Approximately 10000 ex-
tensions serving more than 488,-
900 families were made during the
fiscal year 1854.
In recent years, large numbers
of city folks have been moving in
to country areas serviced by rural
delivery men. This exodus has Civ
en- growing Importance to the rural
service.
Moreover, today, under the mod
ern businesslike policies of the Post
Office Department, many small Of
fices in rural areas are being abol-
ished and the patrons are being
served by rural delivery. So, the
rural delivery system is still grow
ing, still bringing the mail to more
and more Americans who former
ly had to walk or ride miles to get
it.
This basic idea of better service
still motivates the Post Office De-
partment today. as it did on
bright day in 1896 when the
largest rural delivery SER
vice had its quiet beginnings.