The post office at Dublin began on June 14, 1875 with F.C. Oldham as its first postmaster.
The railroads had not arrived yet in Dublin, but a company called The Chidister Line established a Ft.Worth to Ft. Yuma stagecoach that brought mail every other day. When the post office first opened, the amount of mail that it handled was a few letters and newspapers that were extracted from a pouch of mail carried on the stage.
The pouch was locked again and sent on its way. The mail delivery eventually expanded to every day except on Sunday. Oldham tried to quit several times but people ignored him, so he continued to be postmaster until 1883 when he finally resigned.
The postmaster position continued through several hands until H.H. Andrew took the position in May of 1903. (Grand Ol’ Erath, H.G. Perry p 29)(The Dublin Progress, March 29, 1907) The stage of that day could not have hauled all the mail that was unloaded into the Dublin office any morning from the 1907 Record train alone, to say nothing of mail reaching the office from the seven other trains that arrived during the course of every twenty-four hours. As the town grew, the postal receipts also grew until it ranked as a presidential office of the second class, ranking it with Gainesville, Temple, Cleburne, San Angelo, Abilene, Weatherford and Brownwood.
By 1907 the Dublin Progress mailed out each month more than a thousand pounds of its newspapers to its subscribers.
H. Henry Andrew was commissioned as Postmaster at Dublin, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, February 14, 1903. By 1907 there were eight rural carriers who took deliveries to the doors of farmers residing in all directions from Dublin.
Nell Andrew also was an important part of the post office. She made sure that all patrons received excellent service.
W.B. Andrew was his assistant. A.L. Morgan made his first trip as a carrier from Dublin in September 1903. His route covered 24 and a half miles and served 184 families.
The route left Dublin on the Hazeldell road by way of Edna Hill and returned on the Fleming road. J. Lee Carlisle was the carrier for route two and made his first run on May 15th 1904. His route went west from Dublin past Roch school house, south to near Proctor road by way of St. George.
E.M. Pollan was the carrier on route three and started his run on May 16th 1904. His route went west from Dublin to Highland, then south four miles to the De Leon and Stephenville road across to the Dublin and DeLeon road then back to the office.
The route covered 23 and one half miles and served 150 families. A.G Howell was the carrier for route four and started in December 1906. His route left Dublin on the Lingleville Road from Dublin to the Lingleville post office, then west through the Cow Creek community and on the Highland road, back to Dublin.
It covered 27 miles and served 143 families.
Davis Kiker was the carrier on route five and started in December 1906.
His route covered 25 and one half miles. He would leave Dublin on the upper Stephenville road to a mile north of Kiker’s Gin, then east returning on the lower Stephenville road. The route served 155 families.
C.R. Hagler was the carrier on route six starting in May 1904. His route went from the lower Stephenville road to near Harbin and returned through the Cottonwood community. It covered 23 and one quarter miles and served 102 families.
I spoke with our current Postmaster, Ronnie Belew about the Dublin Post Office operation. We still have eight routes from Dublin, two are in town and six are rural routes. Cars allow carriers to serve customers for many more miles today. The longest route today is 140 miles and the shortest is 85 miles.
The post office also delivers live creatures too. It is not unusual for them to deliver fish, crickets as reptile food, live shrimp for aquariums, honey bees, sometimes just a queen bee, baby chicks, lady bugs for gardens and fertilized chicken eggs.
Our Post Office has served the Dublin community for 150 years. We are lucky to have such dedicated servants in our community.