Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Postman on Main Street, 1931

Description

"Before the town's first post office opened in 1812 on Main Street, private citizens returning from the Charlestown Toll House delivered mail to a central location. In 1854, Postman Samuel Kingman built a new post office at the corner of Main and Albion Streets. It was Kingman who introduced mail delivery to the community when he stood outside various churches on Sunday to deliver mail to the intended recipients. Rural free delivery was introduced to the United States in the 1890s as an experiment to deliver mail to farmers and others living outside urban areas, and parcel post became law in 1912 with service beginning in January 1913. The mail truck in the picture encouraged savings while the Postman made his rounds. In 1910, an Act of Congress established a postal savings system in post offices designed to encourage savings, especially for immigrants who were accustomed to saving at post offices in their native countries, and to furnish more convenient depositories for working people, since many post offices were open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., six days a week. By 1929, $153 million was on deposit, reaching $1.2 billion during the 1930s. Savings jumped again during World War II, peaking in 1947 at almost $3.4 billion." - Text from calendar by Jayne M. D'Donofrio.

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2008

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

1931

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

[Wakefield, Mass.] : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Postal service

Letter carriers

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture : b&w

Extent

17 x 30 cm.