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The first post office in
America was established in Boston. This centralized mail sorting facility was in
the home of Richard Fairbanks. His house was located between Washington &
Devonshire Streets just north of Water Street. Modern sources identify his
house as the Fairbanks Tavern. It is believed that the tradition from England of
dropping mail off at coffee houses and taverns was adopted by the earliest
Bostonians. An article in the April 8th 1922 Boston Globe
describes the first Post Office: "The first post office in Boston--and probably in the first in
America--was established in the home of Richard Fairbanks, on or very near
the site of the [then] present Boston Globe building in 1639. On November 6
of that year, the Court voted:
'For preventing the miscarriage of letters; & it is ordered, that notice
bee given that Richard Fairbanks his house in Boston is the place appointed
for all letters which are brought from beyond the seas, or are to be sent
thither, are to bee brought into; and hee is to take care that they bee
delivered or sent according to their directions; and hee is allowed for
every such letter 1 penny, & must answere all miscarriages through his owne
neglect in this kind; provided, that no man shalbee compelled to bring his
letters thither, except hee please.'"
A related fact is that the first long distance "pony express" service in
America was established between New York and Boston in 1673. The service was
short lived. Interestingly though, the path of the riders became known as the Old
Post Road, and part of it was incorporated into U.S. Route 1 more than 200
years later. Also, Benjamin Franklin,
a native Bostonian, was appointed first Postmaster General by the
Continental Congress in 1775 for the then unborn United States.
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