Welcome to The Country Store Museum

US Mail

Post Office
• A visit to the Country Store usually ended
with picking up your mail. Usually the owner
of the store was also the Post Master.

Rates of postage, except for newspapers, had always been high. Postage for a single sheet letter sent more than 400 miles was 25 cents from 1816 to 1845. Letter carriers earned no salaries, but rather were paid 2 cents by the recipients for each letter they delivered.

In 1847 the U. S. Congress authorized the use of adhesive postage stamps. The California Gold Rush during 1849precipitated an urgent need for transcontinental mails. Steamships, by way of Panama and improved overland coach routes helped to reduce transit time to 20 days.

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