was not long in following Montreal's lead in providing street mail pickup
for its citizens. According to J.G. Cunnigham, Director, Information
and Public Relations for the Post Office Department in 1967, the Post
Office Department inaugurated street mail pickup in Toronto on June
5, 1852. Three pillar boxes were put into service. One of the three
was installed on Yonge Street although Cunningham does not give its
precise location nor, unfortunately, does he indicate where the other
two were located.
in the United States was somewhat different. Unlike the Canadian Post
Office Department with its monopoly of all mail services similar to
the practice of the Post Office in England which, incidentally, had
total control of the Canadian postal system until 1851, the United States
Post Office in its early days enjoyed no such monopoly powers. In the
1840s, even into the early 1850s, private companies such as Boyd's placed
street letter boxes in areas that the company serviced. Most were to
be found in high-traffic locations such as entrances to hotels, restaurants,
pharmacies, and other retail stores frequented by the public. In smaller
communities, street letter boxes were usually located in the centre
of town or at village crossroads.
Canadians, for some time now, have become accustomed to following the
U.S. in the introduction of new products and ideas, the situation was
reversed in the 19th century. While the citizens of Toronto, Montreal,
Quebec City, Winnipeg, along with other major Canadian cities, enjoyed
mail pickup at various locations throughout their communities from a
standard, instantly recognized, street letter box painted in what has
come to be known as "Post Office Red" such was not the case
in the U.S.
officially-sanctioned street letter box by the United States Post Office
was not placed into service until sometime in 1858 when Albert Potts
of Philadelphia came up with a patent that the Department approved.
idea was to attach street letter boxes to existing light or electricity
poles or, where none existed, onto new lampposts that his company would
install. Credit must be given to Potts for his forward thinking as the
use of light standards or hydro poles for mounting street letter boxes
was an innovative idea. In Canada, and presumably in Great Britain where
the idea of street mail pickup was introduced, the ground-embedded pillar
letter boxes were still the norm.
to the Potts street letter box was it size: it was much too small. As
a result, it required frequent emptying. Its small size was an obvious
disadvantage with an unnecessarily high cost associated with it that
could only be remedied with the introduction of a larger model. For
that reason, not surprisingly, the U.S. Post Office Department in 1860
awarded a contract to John Murray to manufacture 1,600 units of what
it described as "lamppost" letter boxes. They were to be larger than
the Potts model but unfortunately for collectors and postal history
aficionados, not a single Murray lamppost box is known to have survived.
the round, stand-alone pillar boxes remained in use in some Canadian
cities until the early 1920s, what can properly be described as street
letter boxes began their appearance as early as the 1860s. Toronto was
first out of the starting gate with the installation of the new design
in 1859. Because they were much smaller than the pillar boxes, and equipped
with fittings that could be mounted on any handy post, pole, wall, or
other surface, local post offices had many more options on where to
place them for the public's greatest convenience.
street letter box, similar to the one used by the two young ladies in
Berlin to mail their letter in 1912, was 10" wide, 9" deep,
14 1/2"high in front, and 17 1/2"at the back. The differing
height between front and back is explained by its sloping roof, a feature
designed to drain off precipitation such as rain, snow, and ice. Understandably,
their sizes varied over time with the early models tending to be smaller
than the later ones. Placement of a certain size box also depended on
the volume of mail from specific locations. But the stock of boxes maintained
by the Post Office Department, at any given time, included models of
Murphy, who in 1937 was Superintendent, Equipment and Supply for the
Post Office Department, in a letter to his Chief Superintendent, listed
the dimensions of four different models kept in stock. They were numbered
Street Letter Boxes No. 1, 2, 4, and 5 with No. 2 boxes being the largest:
it measured 35" high at the back, 15" wide, 9" deep,
and 29 high in front. Models identified as No. 1 measured 24" high
at back, 16" wide, 10 1/4" deep, and 18 1/2" high in
front. The remaining two, No. 4 and 5, were smaller models.
1900, most of the old-style pillar boxes had rusted or worn out and
gave way to the new, stand-alone box design. The newer but smaller pole-
and wall-mounted units were not adequate to serve the needs of parcel
post customers and a replacement for the pillar-style design was needed.
What the Department came up with was a square design for the obvious
reason that a square box has more capacity than a round one. But instead
of the traditional sloping roof of the pole-mounted box, the new design
had a roof that was arched from side to side like a Quonset hut. It
was also supported by four sturdy, iron legs which meant that the box
itself was off the ground and less likely to rust from constant exposure
to moisture or water that pooled around the base of the old-style pillar
boxes. Another advantage to a stand-alone box mounted on legs is the
ease with which the mail can be removed. Rather than having to manually
lift the letters out of the box, the same task with the new model can
be accomplished by simply unlocking the door at the bottom and allowing
the letters to drop into a mail bag suspended beneath it.
of cast iron, it retained some features of its pillar style predecessor.
One of these was the separate lock. To protect it from the weather,
it was covered with a lion's paw lock cover. It was not until about
1889 or 1890 that locks were built into the box itself.
During the 1880s, the United States Post Office also introduced a new style letter box. Like its Canadian counterpart, it too was made of cast iron and designed so that it could be mounted almost anywhere -- on walls, electricity or lamp poles, or on the sides of buildings.
the U.S. Post Office Department ordered a new style letter box that
had been designed by Willard D. Doremus. Three sizes of the design were
produced. Unfortunately, they were poorly made and did not stand up
well. Thieves were able to break into them to steal valuable mail. Nor
did their poor construction keep out snow, sleet, or rain.
the end of the 19th century, the U.S. Post Office Department again faced
the task of finding a better quality letter box. It finally settled
on a design by Eugene D. Scheble, a Toledo, Ohio, dentist. The decision
turned out to be huge mistake: instead of being manufactured with cast
iron, they were made of sheet metal. Unfortunately by the time the mistake
came to light the Post Office had purchased nearly 50,000 of the Scheble
boxes. Also, illegal deals were allegedly made and by the time the dust
had settled, a number of prominent individuals were charged with conspiracy
from Cleveland, Ohio, Van Dorn Iron Works, was selected to manufacture
a better box. Although the quality of the product was markedly improved
over the Scheble box, the U.S. street letter box comedy of errors was
not yet over. Apparently the Van Dorn boxes were so ugly in their appearance
that local postmasters in many communities were asked to have them removed
because they clashed with the ornate lampposts to which they were frequently
attached. Although efforts were made to "spruce them up" with cosmetic
changes such as the addition of fancy handles, these token changes failed
to stifle the chorus of criticism.
from a Canadian perspective, the red coloured street letter boxes was
another bone of contention in the U.S. Although the "Post Office Red"
has not appeared to have been a problem in Canada since their introduction
150 years ago, the Americans felt that the red colour would cause confusion
with similarly painted fire alarms and police call boxes. To overcome
this perceived problem, U.S. post office officials directed that the
street boxes should be painted a dark green.
letter of the model number identifying Canadian boxes has traditionally
consisted of the initial of the reigning monarch's name. E-1, for instance,
is a street letter box produced during our present Queen Elizabeth's
reign. Unfortunately for collectors trying to identify the various models
manufactured over the years, King Edward VII, the present Queen's great
grandfather has the same first initial as Elizabeth II although during
his short reign, lasting only from 1901 to 1910, there were relatively
few E model numbers manufactured.
letter boxes with their mail clearance schedules still enclosed in their
glass frame offer a bonus for collectors with an interest in postal
history. These schedules frequently provide information that sheds further
light on post office hours, mail delivery times, train schedules, and
collection of more than 110 street letter boxes housed in Canada's National
Postal Museum offers a treasure trove of information about this fascinating
facet of Post Office Department artifacts from the time that England
passed responsibility for postal matters to its Canadian colonies in
1852 to more recent times. For example, despite the end of Queen Victoria's
reign with her death in 1901 her coat-of-arms remained on many street
letter boxes until 1921 by which time her grandson, King George V, had
been on the throne for 11 years.
there are ways for collectors to identify the great many different styles
manufactured over the years. The model number is one method. Street
Letter Boxes No. 1, for example, have four prominent features that are
painted blue: the letter-slot panel flap, the schedule frame, the escutcheon
featuring the Royal Coat-of-Arms in gold, and the cast-in panel for
"CANADA" also in gold lettering. The rest of the box is finished in
the official Post Office Red enamel. The Royal crest, a feature of every
Canadian street letter box, provides further clues as to the date of
the box's manufacture.
street mail box contracts are tendered, manufacturers frequently attach
a name plate or sticker that provides significant information concerning
date and place of manufacture along with data such as model or serial
numbers together with the name of the manufacturer.
actually examining the King Street, Berlin, letter box pictured in Hansuld
Lamb's book, The Quiet Hobby, it is impossible to positively identify
the model number or determine when it was manufactured except to say
that it was sometime after 1900, by which time pillar boxes had become
obsolete, and 1912 when the photo of the two young ladies was taken.
some dedicated researcher takes time to examine the substantial street
letter box collection at the National Postal Museum and the document
file at the National Archives, and publishes what is sure to be a Herculean
task, collectors will have to rely on whatever data they find inscribed
on actual boxes and on whatever other printed information is available.
their attractive markings, designs, Royal crests, and technological
innovations introduced over the last 150 years make these difficult-to-find
antique artifacts a challenge and joy for collectors to pursue.