Post Office

In 1737, the deputy postmaster general of the American Colonies appointed an ambitious young printer named Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia’s Gazette to be the city’s postmaster. At the time, newspaper printers often doubled as postmasters, so they could choose which papers arrived with the mail. The previous postmaster, the printer of a rival newspaper, had denied the Gazette’s inclusion from the daily rounds, so Franklin leapt at the opportunity.

He enjoyed the work enough to ask the British for the job of postmaster general of America. His request was granted, and Franklin wasted little time putting in place the postal system we know today. He surveyed hundreds of miles of routes, using an odometer placed on his carriage’s axle to personally measure distances between post offices along the East Coast. He also suggested that riders carry post by night as well as day, leading to the privilege of expedited overnight mail. All told, he helped papers and post thrive and even profit.

Nonetheless, he was fired by the Crown for showing too much sympathy for the colonies. For the same loyalty, Congress appointed Franklin to be the first postmaster general of what is now the United States Postal Service. That made him responsible for all post offices from New England to Georgia— including this office in Lewes, Delaware.

Franklin is no longer with us to make the rounds visiting these crucial establishments, but his face flashes through regularly, as he has appeared on more than 130 US postage stamps, including one of the first eve issued. In most of them, he looks fittingly proud yet somewhat disgruntled.

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