MUSEUM MATTERS

Its not something we think about today, but city mail delivery was an important step for Dublin. Today its part of our daily lives to have mail delivered directly to our homes, but in 1948 it was something brand new.

I remember talking with Bill and Wade Cowan about this a number of years ago. To start with, every street needed a name. Undoubtedly we had streets with no name and others may have had duplicate names. That had to be resolved. Then street numbers had to be assigned to homes and businesses. The numbering system needed to take into account if there was a space between two homes that was large enough for someone to build a home there at a later time. The numbering system had to skip a house number in that case, so an address would be available later. They may have also needed to allow for some homes that might become a duplex in the future.

According to the Dublin Progress February 6, 1948 “The City Council has already started their plans for the numbering of the houses and the naming of the streets, reports Mayor D. R. Franks. The council committee appointed to do this work are Joe Henderson, Joe Fletcher and Rich Cowan. They have already begun the making of concrete name posts for the street intersections and expect to be able to show good results of their work in about thirty days.” “The markers will have the names of the streets and block numbers painted on them when finished. The posts will be painted white.”

Mr Whitworth, a local engineer was employed to supervise the operation, while Bill Cowan of the post office made sure they met postal regulations.

“The individual home owners will be asked to purchase their own house numbers after the plans are complete. Each home owner will be told what their number is at a later date. This information is not available now as the city map is not complete with this information.” “Postmaster Shillingburg is to be commended on his fine work in getting Dublin approved for city delivery even before the streets have been properly named and the houses numbered.”

In the April 23, 1948 Dublin Progress, Jerome Shillingburg, local postmaster states “One of the requirements for city delivery is that all houses be numbered and have a mail box. There are other requirements also, but they have already been met. The one remaining is to get all the house numbers up.” “ The inspector will be here most any time now and he will not approve the work already done, unless all of it has been done, which includes numbers on houses.

The May 21, 1948 Dublin Progress states “City delivery mail service over three approved routes and a parcel post route will be established in Dublin effective July 1, 1948.

An article in the Dublin Progress June 25, 1948 stated that city delivery would begin on July 1, 1948. “Postmaster T. J. Shillingburg this week urgently requested city delivery patrons to begin using using their correct street addresses to assist in establishment of the service here July 1.”

“A business man may receive his business mail in his post office box and have his personal mail delivered to his home if he will have it addressed in this manner.” “Establishment of the city delivery service is expected to relieve the shortage of post office boxes.”

The new city delivery carriers were, Everett Shafer, Eddie Welch, John L. Wilson, with Robert Sones becoming a substitute clerk to replace Everett Shafer because of his transfer to the city carrier position.

All of this was accomplished in the post office located across from the Majestic Theater on Patrick Street. Sanborn maps show that this was the location of the post office in 1934 but an article in the July 14, 1961 Dublin Progress stated that the building was a post office since 1939.

A lot was accomplished in this rather small building, so with all the additional activity, a new larger building was needed.

There was also a push in the Federal Post Office Department for better working conditions for postal workers.

We’ll talk about how we resolved those issues in the next thrill-packed edition of Museum Matters.