Robert Mullen
Catalog Number: 1991.072.01
We take mail delivery for granted. Six days a week, letters and information arrive in our mailboxes and we think nothing of it. Yet it hasn’t always been that way.
A home delivery system was established by the postmaster in La Crosse on Oct. 10, 1884. Before that, local citizens had to pick up their mail at the post office, which in 1884 was located at the southeast corner of Fourth and Main streets, the location of today’s Duluth Trading Company.
This metal badge belonged to Albert Daniels, who held one of the original five mail carrier positions in La Crosse.
These five letter carriers were probably political appointees because there was no Civil Service testing at the time. Supervised by Emil Berg, the men were Isaac Engh, Ed Cronon, Henry Schlong, Peter Christianson and Daniels. At the time, the North Side had a separate post office and was not included in the service.
Of the original group of letter carriers, only Albert Daniels made this job his career. He was originally Letter Carrier Number 4, but by 1888, the others had left and Albert advanced in seniority to carrier Number 1.
The U.S. Postal Service began home delivery in the nation’s larger cities in 1863. Congress authorized postal service uniforms in 1868.
By 1887, a numbered badge was required to be pinned on the carrier’s hat. Mr. Daniels’ badge is not a regulation design and was likely made before that year.
Albert Daniels witnessed many changes to the postal service during his career.
Initially, carriers either walked to the beginning of their route or took the horse trolley there. Walking 15 miles was a normal day. By 1888, there were nine carriers. Some were mounted carriers delivering on horseback to the North Side. Letters and packages were generally handed personally to the recipient.
Over the years, Daniels saw his workday shrink from 12 hours to eight. He joined the National Association of Letter Carriers, which formed in 1889. He saw La Crosse’s new post office at Fourth and State streets completed in 1890.
Congress authorized free rural mail delivery in 1896, creating a boon for farmers and mail order houses. As the city grew, many more letter carriers were hired, and the routes were shortened to about 10 miles.
By the time Daniels retired about 1920, the post office utilized motor vehicles for parcels and special deliveries. Albert Daniels, La Crosse’s Letter Carrier No. 1, died in 1934 at age 80.
Gene Lappin, Daniels’ grandson, donated this badge to the La Crosse County Historical Society in 1983.
This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on April 4, 2020.
This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.
