Happy 250th Anniversary to the U.S. Post Office….
During the 163 years since Kewaunee County was set off from Door in 1852, Kewaunee County had between 40-50 U.S. post offices. Today there are four. In the early days, post offices were found in saloons, hotels, stores, cheese factories, and even in barns, although U.S. post offices have been found in even more “creative” spots in across the U.S. One of the more interesting (above) from a 1940s-era Row Peterson reading book illustrates a carpenter who wore the post office in his hat band!
Depending upon the manner in which one counts, Wisconsin Post Office Handbook, Revised #20 lists 45 post
offices in Kewaunee County’s first 160 years of existence. The handbook
maintains that total accuracy of early Kewaunee County post offices is
difficult because the post offices are hard to follow. It lists Boalt and Bolt,
but neither Darbellay 1 and Darbellay 2, nor Sandy Bay 1 and Sandy Bay 2.
WPHS’s listing of the 45 post offices depends on how one
accounts for changes in spelling and for the changes in geographic location of many
of the offices. For instance, Handbook
Revised #20 lists post offices with the same name in the same county,
meaning there were offices with the same name, but at different times. It
indicates the name changes from Luxembourg to Luxemburg, and Darbellay to Thiry
Daems. Foscoro and Red River offices moved to or from Door County. Site
documents for Ahnepee/Ahnapee indicate Rushford and Royal Creek, however
neither has its own such document. Rushford was established on April 4, 1861,
and discontinued July 31, 1863. James Pierce was postmaster. Royal Creek – not to
be confused with Rio Creek - was established July 17, 1862, and discontinued on
the same day as Rushford. Richard Gage was postmaster. It was James Pierce
after whom the Town of Pierce was named. Richard Gage was an early employee of
Hall’s Mill, on the South Branch of the Ahnapee River just beyond the point at
which that branch broke off from the main channel of the river.
Absences of Rushford and Royal Creek can be explained since
few site locations were filed before the mid-1860’s, and that it was in 1862 when
the Post Office Department began a concentrated effort to develop comprehensive
postal maps for existing post offices. These maps, which were required to show
rivers, creeks, railroads, and distances from already established routes, became
mandatory in the establishment of a new post office.
The mapping system found the Kewaunee County post offices
already in operation by 1864. Such offices all have a first site location
report processing date of October 16, 1864, regardless of when they had been
established. Thus, both Rushford and Royal Creek closed too early to ever file
such a site report.
Wisconsin Postal
Handbook, 1821-1971, Bulletin #10 notes errors in U.S. Post Office
Department records. Keweanee was changed to Kewaunee and Tisch Mills was
changed to Marathon in Manitowoc County. Dates for Zavis post office were
changed from 1879 – 1879 to 1878 - 1879. Rio Creek was discontinued on June 18,
1976, when it became a branch of Algoma.
Microfilmed files reproduced from report forms sent to the
postmasters by the U.S. Post Office Department are found in the National
Archives. The forms required information for use in compiling postal route
maps. Most of the site location reports cover the period from the mid-1860’s to
1946. A few reports exist for the 1830’s into the 1850’s and for 1946-1950.
Prior to 1837, the U.S. Post Office Department purchased its
maps through commercial firms. During that year the department appointed a
cartographer who began preparing maps for postal use. In 1862, the route maps
were offered for public sale, a practice ended in 1955. Site location reports
were eliminated at the same time.
Site location maps found in the compilation of Kewaunee
County post offices were used by the U.S. Topographer to determine the location
of post offices in relation to nearby offices and routes. Requested data
included Town, Range and Section as well as the physical descriptions as
mentioned above.
Location documents indicate that many of the early post
offices were Special Offices, created in Section 733 of Postal Laws and
Regulations of 1887. These offices were supplied by special carriers who picked
up mail at a convenient point somewhere on the nearest mail route. Remuneration
was a sum equal to two-thirds of the amount of the salary for the postmaster at
such an office. Before 1887, the Special Offices were supplied “without expense
to the Department other than net proceeds.” Those offices were not on routes
under contract. In 1881, Pilsen was one of those offices. Contractor Andrew
Bohman traveled two miles west to Ellisville to pick up mail on the Mishicott*-Casco
route, for a four-mile round trip. Pilsen Postmaster Andrew Mahlik requested
that Pilsen be placed on a postal route, which would have been serviced through
Henrysville to the west in Brown County. (Mishicott was the spelling of the time.)
Kewaunee County’s postal history provides a fascinating
glimpse into the cultural history, the roads, the people, and long-forgotten
hamlets deemed important enough to support a United States post office. Future
blog posts will chronicle some of these hamlets.
1885
1908
Kewaunee County post offices then in service, and some in
neighboring counties, appear on the map on the right printed just before the
advent of Rural Free Delivery on November 30, 1904. Source is unknown.
Source: Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County, Kannerwurf, Sharpe, Johnson, Copyright 2010; available at Kewaunee, Door and Brown County Library, WHS through Area Research Centers and Yardstick Book Store in Algoma, WI.
