The Portland GMF – Pre-construction

Site of the Portland GMF 1959

Lucky Lindy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Postmaster Jones was a great one for open letters to the public as a form of advertising.

Fly Like an Eagle

The mail was, and continues to be, a bargain, but service standards have improved every year as we become faster and smarter about the way we collect, process and deliver the mail.  The major innovation prior to automation was the introduction of AirMail.  We don’t have on time measurements, or EXFC scores but given the short lifespan of early AirMail pilots we can assume there were frequent delays. 

Walker E. Harris

Some photos are simple things that tell us small tidbits about a place or a thing.

Others tell us volumes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank You and Good Night Mr. Spooner

 

The ironic thing is that Mr. Spooner’s route had not long been in existence.  The Lents Post Office had only been instructed to establish Rural Free Delivery in 1903 at a cost of $600 including horse hire. 

History is a fluid thing

The better organized a history of a thing is, the more I begin to question it.  I think that history should work more or less the way our memories do, in a series of short flashes that run through interconnected experiences and senses.  I will concede that there must be a nominal beginning and the start or what we know of the post office in Portland, OR begins more or less with Thomas Smith, Portland’s first Postmaster.  The first Post Office in Portland was located on the NW corner of SW 1st and Washington. Smith received his commission on November 8, 1849 which marks the establishment of the institution.  Smith was a staff of one.

Which explains the gray beard.

T