Ben Franklin and the U.S. Postal Service

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According to an 1894 researched report, the earliest effort to create any sort of post office in the colonies was in 1639 by the Massachusetts General Court when a tavern in Boston owned by Richard Fairbanks was designated to be the first post office. This was in keeping with the European tradition of coffee houses and taverns being mailing centers. The first post messenger may have started in 1672 or 1673 with instructions to “behave civilly” and to mark trees so other travelers would know where they are going.

Sources:

[Backroad_Junkie]

Bonus fact:
You can still visit the B Free Post Office (Ben's original post office) in Philadelphia. You can even mail a letter and get it canceled there. (While you're there, you can pick up a repro of the original Declaration of Independence done on a period printing press, and the Franklin Museum is a pretty cool place to visit.)

B Free is the only postal facility in the US that doesn't fly an American Flag, because it's the only post office that still exits in the postal service that was established before the country.

This is all just a couple of blocks from Independence National Historical Park, where the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall is.

[HumDoodle]

I find it funny the USA has a postal service but call it mail and Britain has the royal mail but call it post.

[MatthewStinar]

I never realized how large and how early Ben Franklin's role in the US postal system was! The world of logistics is just so fascinating to me.

[DanRamosDR]

Oh wow! I had no idea why Boston Road (I lived my whole life by this road) kept showing up as "Boston Post Road" on various things. I had no idea! I'm in Springfield, MA, and you can literally take this road all the way to Boston, I'm told. NEAT!

[jacobluna]

My grandfather was a mail carrier after retuning from the Second World War, but he didn't use a postal truck; he walked and delivered the mail in his town. He was replaced by two mail carriers after he retired. God bless mail.

[heyyou]

Fire depts and libraries were his thing too.
He also perfected tenderizing a Turkey with an electric shock. Still standard practice today.

[octane]

Very cool. My dad worked in the past office. It's nice to see that connection between him and Been Franklin.

[DeannaBaileytheRavensFan]

I actually heard about this. I have a bunch of family who work for the post office and I ended up hearing about all of this from them. 😊

[shadowmihaiu]

"and the rest is history" HAHA its ALL history!

[kirbymarchbarcena]

I'm glad the postal service ain't dead yet.

[shaneviola]

I grew up in pa and they had a whole course on Pennsylvania history. So I actually knew most of this stuff about Ben Franklin from 8th grade history class.

[mixmastermike]

2:20 Ben Franklin stayin LIT since 1894

[sanewfield]

Hope your Christmas was glorious! Also HAPPY NEW YEAR 🍾. LOVE your channels and looking forward to 2019!!

[heronimousbrapson]

Franklin also established the postal service in Nova Scotia, now part of Canada as it was one of the British colonies he oversaw before the revolution.

[christelheadington]

Sadly, I've not had Ben Franklin's portrait in my wallet, for some time now.

[Sam_on_YouTube]

Oh, so that must be why parts of rt 20 in Massachusetts are called Boston Post Rd. It must be a newer, but still very old, postal route.

[Ojisan]

Related fact: the old Boston post road was originally part of the King’s Highway, built in the 1600s on the orders of King Charles II to connect all the colonies between South Carolina and Massachusetts.

[octane]

Do a video on post riders. Mailmen who rode on horseback to deliver mail across the Wild West

[jeffreyhebert]

Is there anything that Mr Ben Franklin can't do... genius

[Freewill]

If it wasn’t for Benjamin, I couldn’t go down in the DMs