this card
was in a collection I acquired, the top left button doesn’t belong on here as
it’s a Telegraph Co. button, the top right button this device (image) was
adopted as the Seal of the U.S. Post Office in 1837.
All the
buttons are brass
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The story of the United States Postal Service begins in 1775, when the
Continental Congress named
Benjamin Franklin the first American Postmaster General. Franklin and his
fellow patriots saw a robust
mail system as critical to the nation’s welfare. A healthy postal network
facilitated communication among
army commanders and the first elected representatives, and representatives
and their constituents;
newspapers sent through the mail enabled Americans to participate in
political life. As directed by
Congress, postal officials first extended the mail system geographically,
adding mail routes and Post
Offices to embrace communities up and down the coast and then westward,
keeping pace with the
traveling frontier. In the mid-1800s, Congress increased access to the mail
by simplifying and lowering
letter-postage rates. Later in the century, Congress introduced the
convenience that most Americans
now expect – free home delivery of mail, first in the city, then in the
country. To check for mail, city
dwellers no longer had to wait in long lines at crowded Post Offices, and
farmers no longer had to unhitch
horse from plow and plod five or six miles into town. In 1913, the Post
Office Department introduced
Parcel Post – affordable parcel delivery available to all Americans that
opened up a new world of mail
order merchandise to many, especially in rural areas
(above information taken from the U.S.P.S.
site
click on image to enlarge
