SIGNIFICANT DATES IN POSTAL HISTORY


1639 Richard Fairbanks' tavern in Boston named repository for overseas mail
1775 Benjamin Franklin, first Postmaster General under Continental Congress
1789 Samuel Osgood, first Postmaster General under Constitution
1823 Navigable waters designated post roads by Congress
1825 Dead letter office
1829 Postmaster General joins Cabinet
1830 Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations established, later Office of the Chief Postal Inspector
1838 Railroads designated post routes by Congress
1845 Star routes
1847 Postage stamps
1852 Stamped envelopes
1855 Registered Mail Compulsory prepayment of postage
1858 Street letter boxes
1860 Pony Express
1862 Railway mail service, experimental
1863 Free city delivery, Uniform postage rates, regardless of distance, Domestic mail divided into three classes
1864 Post offices categorized by classes, Railroad post offices, Domestic money orders
1869 Foreign or international money orders
1872 Congress enacts Mail Fraud Statute
1873 Penny postal card
1874 General Postal Union (later Universal Postal Union)
1879 Domestic mail divided into four classes
1880 Congress establishes title of Chief Post Office Inspector
1885 Special Delivery
1887 International parcel post
1893 First commemorative stamps
1896 Rural free delivery, experimental
1898 Private postcards authorized
1902 Rural free delivery, permanent
1911 Postal savings system, Carriage of mail by airplane sanctioned between Garden City and Mineola, NY; Earle H. Ovington, first U. S. mail pilot
1912 Village delivery
1913 Parcel post, Insurance, Collect-on-delivery
1914 Government-owned and-operated vehicle service
1916 Postal Inspectors solve last known stagecoach robbery
1918 Airmail
1920 Metered postage, First transcontinental, airmail
1924 Regular transcontinental airmail service
1925 Special handling
1927 International airmail
1935 Trans-Pacific airmail
1939 Trans-Atlantic airmail, Autogiro service, experimental
1941 Highway post offices
1942 V-mail
1943 Postal zoning system in 124 major post offices
1948 Parcel post international air service, Parcel post domestic air service
1950 Residential deliveries cut from two to one a day
1953 Piggy-back mail service by trailers or railroad flatcars, Airlift
1955 Certified mail
1957 Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
1959 Missile mail dispatched from submarine to mainland Florida
1960 Facsimile mail
1963 ZIP Code and sectional center plan
1964 Self-service post offices, Simplified postmark
1965 Optical scanner (ZIP Code reader tested)
1966 Postal savings system terminated
1967 Mandatory presorting by ZIP Code for second- and third-class mailers
1968 Priority Mail, a subclass of First-Class Mail
1969 Patronage no longer a factor in postmaster and rural carrier appointments, First die proof of a postage stamp canceled on moon by Apollo 11 mission
1970 MAILGRAM, Postal Reorganization Act, Express Mail, experimental
1971 United Stares Postal Service began operation; Postmaster General no longer in Cabinet, Labor contract achieved through collective bargaining for the first time in history of federal government
Star routes changed to highway contract routes, National service standards established: overnight delivery of 35% of airmail within 600 miles and 95% of First-Class Mail within local areas
1972 Stamps by mail, Passport applications accepted in post offices
1973 National service standards expanded to include second-day delivery of parcel post traveling up to 150 miles, with one-day delivery time added for each additional 400 miles
1974 Highway post offices terminated, First satellite transmission of Mailgrams
1976 Post office class categories eliminated, Discount for presorted First-Class Mail
1977 Airmail abolished as a separate rate category, Express Mail, permanent new class of service Final run of railroad post office on June 30
1978 Discount for presorted second-class mail, Postage stamps and other philatelic items copyrighted Discount for presorted bulk third-class mail, Postal Career Executive Service (PCES) New standards require envelopes and postcards to be at least 3 '/2" high and 5" long to be mailable
1980 INTELPOST (high-speed international electronic message service)
1981 Controlled circulation classification discontinued, Discount for First-Class Mail presorted to carrier routes
1982 Automation begins with installation of optical character readers, E-COM (Electronic Computer-Originated Mail, electronic message service with hard copy delivery)
1983 ZIP+4, Ended public service subsidy from federal government
1984 Integrated retail terminals automate postal windows
1985 Jackie Strange, first female Deputy Postmaster General, E-COM terminated
1986 International Priority Airmail, Postal Service realigned; field divisions created
1987 Small parcel and bundle sorters, Stamps by phone, Multiline optical character readers ordered
1988 Inspector General's Act extends duties of Chief Postal Inspector, Universal Postal Union Congress in Washington, DC, International business reply mail
1990 Wide area barcode readers, Easy Stamp, allowing purchase of stamps through computers
1991 Independent measurement of First-Class Mail service, International business reply service
1992 Remote barcoding system, Reorganization:regions, divisions and management sectional centers replaced by area and district offices for customer service and mail processing, Stamps sold through automatic teller machines
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