Beverly Post Office

Photo and Commentary by Sarah Kerrigan

The Unites States postal service was founded on July 26, 1775. Before it was originally developed the general court of Massachusetts designated the tavern of Richard Fairbanks as the center for all male that came in from overseas. Then they developed routes throughout many towns. The first original route was called the old Boston post road. Then in 1673, even though it was short lived governor Francis Lovelace of New York set up a monthly post between New York and Boston. As a U.S. postal service continued throughout the rest of the country, the actually delivering of mail had many different stages. Mail delivery changed from foot to horseback, stagecoach, steamboat, railroad, automobile, and airplane, with occasional use of balloons and helicopters. This made it possible for such things as railroads, highways, and airways to develop and they began to take over the nation. The Beverly post office is very important to the city of Beverly because without it we would have a very large communication loss. Also our post office is relative to the rest of the nation because it was one of the first to be established and Boston was the first to develop a system for the way mail is transferred.

This picture of the Beverly Post Office represents not only the mail service and how it formed in the United States, but also how transportation came around because of it. I think that this postcard will be significant in the future because even though we have new technology nowadays, I don’t think that the postal service will go away anytime soon. Also in the future when people are researching old methods of communication the postal service will definitely be significant. This picture brings a legacy to the town of Beverly and how it transformed the transportation system. As generations pass this postcard should prove to be a piece of the history.