Postmaster John Wanamaker
Title
Postmaster John Wanamaker
Subject
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
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
Link: Library of Congress
Rights
Library of Congress
Publisher
Library of Congress
Contributor
Bain News Service
Format
Medium: Photograph
Language
English
Type
Figures
Identifier
Postal
Coverage
Historic
Files
Collection
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.