Postmaster John Wanamaker

Title

Postmaster John Wanamaker

Description

When John Wanamaker was appointed to be the Post Master General in 1889, he implemented many changes that are still in use today. He started the use of commemorative stamps, and was so confident it would work that he personally bought $10,000 dollars worth of them. He made plans to have the first free rural service postal program, which would have mail carriers go to rural areas where most mail services weren’t available. In addition to these, he also designed an underground system of tubes for swift mail delivery in Philadelphia, New York, St. Louis, Boston and Chicago. Each tube could fit over 600 letters and yet be able to be dispatched every 6 to 15 seconds. It highly improved distribution between stations, and could get mail to trains before they took off.

Creator

Bain News Service

Date

July 22, 1915

Source

John Wanamaker

A black and white photograph of John Wanamaker, the 35th United States Post Master General. Source: Pope, Nancy. (2007). John Wanamaker Portrait. National Postal Museum. Retrieved Oct 26, 2012, from http://bit.ly/S4PHFv

Relation

Rights

Library of Congress

Publisher

Library of Congress

Contributor

Bain News Service

Format

Medium: Photograph 

Language

English

Type

Figures

Identifier

Postal

Coverage

Historic

Files

johnwana.jpg

Reference

Bain News Service, Postmaster John Wanamaker, Library of Congress, July 22, 1915

Cite As

Bain News Service, “Postmaster John Wanamaker,” Virtual Museum of Public Service, accessed March 29, 2024, https://vmps.omeka.net/items/show/75.