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Introduction
Early History
Death Records 1860-1894

Pioneers
Early Settlers
Joseph McClure
Pardon T Jewell
Marvin Older
Delos E Lyon
Curtis Brothers
Searl and Storrs
Doctors
William McNall

Park Square and Fairs
The Story
The Trial
The Wedding
Franklinville Fair
Bands

Postal History
Introduction
Post Office
Postmasters

Hotels and Inns
Globe Hotel
Hotel Lester
Bard Hotel
Brown Eagle Hotel

Businesses and Industry
Bartholomew's Pharmacy
West Park Square Drug Store
Quality Bakery
Cutlery Industry
Mercantile
Dairy Industry
Firehouse Liquors
Blount Plow

Churches and Buildings
Baptist
Other Churches
Presbyterian
Methodist Episcopal
Amusement Hall
The Miners Cabin

In the Public Trust
Newspapers
Chronicle-Journal
Fire Department
Mt Prospect Cemetery
Public Works

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Introduction

We have become so accustomed to instant communication that we tend
to forget it wasn't always so easy to get a message anywhere .. not even
a letter. In the beginning of this story it was mentioned that Joseph
McCluer sent a letter from Angelica to Batavia. He could not have sent
a letter from our area at that time.

Two years would pass after the arrival of the original settlers
before it would be possible to send a letter from here. A man on
horseback brought the first mail service to Franklinville in 1816. The
rider came from Centerville to Farmersville and then down Kingsbury
Hill, is saddlebags containing mail destined for Franklinville. One
wonders if the mail got through in winter, or if the news, good or bad,
sometimes waited for a thaw. It is unknown to me where it was deposited
upon arrival, in order that it might be sorted out for those for whom it
was intended.

In the early days, instead of paying postage on a letter when
mailing it, the person receiving the missive was the one who had to pay
to get it. Nearly every family kept a small box in which a fund of at
least twenty five cents was kept in case any letter should come.
Later the mail would be carried for about twelve years by stage
which we have a tendency only to associate with what we believe to have
been the "real" west.

The first official Post Office was established in 1820, and the
first postmaster was, of course, Joseph McCluer. He continued until
1833. Postage receipts in 1832 were $89.36. We do not know where the
very first Post Office was located.

What we do know is that, once postal service was established here,
it would be a long, long time before it achieved a permanent location of
its very own.

Very early it was on the south side of Elm Street in the first
block west of Elm Street's intersection with Route 16. Later it was on
the southwest corner of Elm and South Main Street where Joseph McCluer's
barn had stood originally. The next move took it to a store on South
Park Square. From there it went to a room in the rear of the then Union
National Bank Building on the northeast corner of Chestnut Street and
Park Square, the entrance to the Post Office being on Chestnut Street.

Read more about the Post Office and its history:

Post Office

Postmasters