| Delivering hundreds of millions of messages a | | | | The first U.S. railway post office route was |
| day to more than 141 million U.S. homes and | | | | established in 1864 between Chicago and |
| businesses is no small feat. Tracking the | | | | Clinton, Iowa on the Chicago and North |
| evolution of the United States Postal Service | | | | Western Railroad. Terminals were established |
| is a journey into the history of | | | | adjacent to major railroad stations to allow |
| transportation, economics, industrialization, | | | | parcels to be sorted in the mail room and |
| communications and government. | | | | loaded onto mail cars. By 1930, more than |
| | | | 10,000 trains moved the mail. And although |
| With an act of the Second Continental | | | | there was a decline in the use of the rail to |
| Congress in 1775, the birth of the Post | | | | deliver mail, the nation's freight railroads |
| Office Department, predecessor to the U.S. | | | | continue to carry mail through their |
| Postal Service, was put into place. According | | | | intermodal service today. |
| to the Congressional act, "a line of posts | | | | |
| [should] be appointed under the direction of | | | | In the early 1900s, the Post Office |
| the Postmaster general, from Falmouth in New | | | | authorized experimental flights at fairs, |
| England to Savannah in Georgia, with as many | | | | carnivals, and air meets in more than 16 |
| cross posts as he shall think fit." | | | | states. These flights convinced the Post |
| | | | Office that the airplane could carry a |
| At the time, the postal system mainly carried | | | | payload of mail. In 1918, the Post Office |
| communications between Congress and the | | | | began scheduled airmail service between New |
| armies, under the direction of Benjamin | | | | York City and Washington, D.C. with military |
| Franklin, the first Postmaster General. From | | | | personnel flying Army planes. In 1918, the |
| him was established the basis of the system | | | | Post Office took over all phases of its |
| that has continued to serve the needs of the | | | | airmail service. The very first commercial |
| American people since its inception. | | | | airmail flight took place in 1926. |
| According to the United States Postal | | | | |
| Service, Franklin set out on a long tour to | | | | With all of its advances through the decades, |
| inspect the Post Offices in the North and as | | | | the Post Office almost came to a grinding |
| far away as Virginia. New and shorter mail | | | | halt in the mid-1960s. Years of financial |
| routes were laid out and milestones were | | | | neglect and fragmented control over elements |
| placed on principal roads. Post riders | | | | such as equipment and wages created a crisis. |
| carried mail, for the first time, at night to | | | | In Chicago, 10 million pieces of mail were |
| speed service between Philadelphia and New | | | | logjammed. The mailroom floors were bursting |
| York. By the time he left office, post roads | | | | with millions of letters, parcels, circulars, |
| were operating from Maine to Florida and from | | | | and magazines that could not be processed. |
| New York to Canada. | | | | Years of neglect finally added up. In |
| | | | response, Congress created a postal |
| When Washington D.C. became the seat of | | | | reformation that improved pay, improved |
| government, the post office was moved there | | | | workforce benefits, and gave the postmaster |
| from Philadelphia. A two horse-drawn wagon | | | | more control, to name a few. |
| carried all postal records, furniture and | | | | |
| supplies to the new capitol. During the 19th | | | | As letters account for the greatest amount of |
| century, the Post Office made great gains, | | | | mail volume, the Postal Service introduced |
| developing new services that have lasted into | | | | new equipment and technology in the 1990s to |
| the 21st century, as well as subsidizing the | | | | speed up letter processing. It also began to |
| development of every major form of | | | | automate the processing of catalogs, |
| transportation. | | | | magazines, and other oversized envelopes. It |
| | | | has also turned its attention to speeding up |
| Steamboats began traveling the rivers, | | | | the processing of parcels. Its newest focus |
| replacing boats, rowboats, and rafts as a | | | | is to provide customers with more information |
| means to carry the mail. As the West lagged | | | | on each mailpiece as it travels through the |
| behind the rest of the country in the receipt | | | | system. The goal is to have an intelligent |
| of its mail, the Pony Express was established | | | | mail system in place by 2009, which would |
| and began its run in 1860. The fastest | | | | operate like a Global Positioning System for |
| delivery was in March, 1861 when President | | | | mail, using a standardized barcode on each |
| Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address was | | | | piece of mail and mail container, enabling |
| carried from St. Joseph to Sacramento in 7 | | | | customers to see where their mail is each |
| days and 17 hours. | | | | step of the way. |
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