Rose Hill, NY

In 1887, at Rose Hill, in the southern part of the Town of Marcellus, N.Y., Frank B. Mills began selling seeds, turning a boyhood fascination into a business. For his first catalog, he bought a hand press, set the type, and did the printing himself. He mailed out 3,000 copies and garnered 118 customers. By 1890, he was taking so many orders that Rose Hill needed its own post office. Frank B. Mills, conveniently, was named postmaster. In 1892, he was succeeded by his brother, William E. Mills.

By 1895, the F.B. Mills Company had 400,000 customers, and by 1903, 800,000. Catalogs and seeds were mailed all over the world from the little post office at the front of the warehouse.

Cranberry Lake, NJ

Brantwood, WI

If I had lived in this town in 1906, I surely would have welcomed a letter.

Apalachicola, FL

On the Gulf of Mexico and Apalachicola Bay, this town was once home to the sponge trade and boasted a post office that also did duty as the customs house and the weather bureau.

Fredericton, N.B.

Do you think the photographer had no place else to stand? Fredericton is the capital of New Brunswick province, and surely its post office deserved better than to be upstaged by a tree. And not a very stately tree at that.

Royal Oak, MI

A handsome group of mail carriers prepare to spread joy, on foot and by bicycle, in Royal Oak, Michigan.

South Queensferry, Scotland

You have to love this postcard, with well-clad postal ladies and a bicycle at the ready, a humble yet eager post office serving the people of South Queensferry. Part of the City of Edinburgh, the town took its name from St. Margaret of Scotland (1045-1093), wife of Malcolm III, King of Scots. While his Queen Consort, she crossed the Firth of Forth here, by ferry, to visit her chapel in Edinburgh Castle.

Mineral King, CA

In a mountain valley 7,800 feet above sea level in California’s High Sierras sits Mineral King, where summer cabins have been in some families for seven and even eight generations. The roads are closed in winter; there is no electricity, but there is mail.

Bridgeport, CT

The post office in Bridgeport, Connecticut, courtesy of Gary Archer.

Monterey, CA

An unflattering postcard of the Monterey, California, post office, but the only one I’ve been able to find. The post office is on Hartnell Street, named for an Englishman who opened a school in Monterey in 1834.

You wouldn’t know it from this photo, but the building’s alcoves are graced by two tile murals depicting the Monterey landings of Sebastián Vizcaíno (1548-1624) and John D. Sloat (1781-1867).

Vizcaíno was a Spanish soldier, explorer and diplomat whose travels took him to the Americas, Philippines, and Japan. In 1602, he sailed up the California coast, exploring and naming Point Lobos, Carmel Valley and Monterey Bay.

In 1846, Sloat, an American naval officer, raised the American flag over the Monterey Customs House and proclaimed California a part of the United States.

The tiles are from the Gladding McBean tile company; an individual artist is not mentioned.