Rural Americans didn't get mail at home until the late 19th century.

Science & Industry

W hile residents of the biggest cities in the U.S. enjoyed the luxury of free mail delivery to their homes beginning in 1863, it was more than three decades before rural dwellers could depend on regular mail access that didn't involve an inconvenient trek to the nearest town. Initial pushes to expand delivery service came from department store magnate John Wanamaker, who served as postmaster general in the early 1890s, and Georgia politician Tom Watson, who initiated a bill to fund the expansion in 1893. Finally, new postmaster general William L. Wilson agreed to launch an experimental rural free delivery (RFD) service in three West Virginia towns in 1896.

There were a few challenges that stood in the way of rural mail delivery, including the crude roads that made traveling between towns a harrowing experience in winter. What's more, rural carriers, who were paid less than their urban counterparts, were expected to provide their own transportation. But as it turned out, Americans outside of busy urban centers were strongly yearning not only for mail delivery, but also for the connection to the world at large that carriers relayed via newspapers and basic social interaction. Thousands of residents of previously isolated areas rounded up the signatures needed to petition for RFD service, and rebuilt their local roads and bridges to ensure safer passageways. Following steady expansion of delivery routes into the next century, Americans of all but the most impossible-to-reach locales could rejoice when RFD was designated a permanent service effective July 1, 1902.

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By the Numbers

Congressional funds used to start RFD service in 1896

$40,000

Post offices across the U.S. in 1901, the most in American history

76,945

Did you know?

The ubiquitous tunnel mailbox was created in 1915.

Although many residents of remote regions diligently worked to upgrade their roads for mail service at the turn of the 20th century, less attention was paid to the soap boxes and sticky old food containers they supplied as mailboxes. The U.S. Post Office Department subsequently sought to establish a standardized model for these receptacles by 1901, specifying dimensions of at least 18 inches by 6 inches and naming 14 manufacturers from which customers could purchase sheet metal boxes. Still, many rural residents continued to provide their own homemade mailboxes, many of which proved unable to store the larger packages that circulated with the commencement of Parcel Post service in 1913. The proper means for streamlining finally arrived in 1915, when postal engineer Roy Joroleman designed the now-familiar tunnel mailbox with its nifty flag on the side, raised to signal when the box was full with incoming or outgoing mail. With only these mailboxes permitted to be installed by July 1, 1916, Joroleman's design soon became the standard across the U.S. countryside and a widely recognized symbol of 20th-century Americana.