The SNYDER COUNTY POST History Page

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From the Archives of
The
Middleburg Post

125 Years Ago
April 22, 1886

100 Years Ago
April 27, 1911

75 Years Ago
April 26, 1936

Martin Weirick, son of Reuben Weirick, aged 11 years, disappeared from his home, two miles west of Middleburgh, one day last week with six dollars in money. He was not heard of until Thursday evening when a telegram came to Dr. Barber at Middleburgh from Bellevue, Ohio, requesting him to notify Mr. Weirick that his son was there and that he should come and get him or send money for his return. The boy has been in the habit of running off but never before has he got so far from home.
From Lewistown Democrat & Sentinel: "McClure for business; Middlecreek for music; and Troxelville for pretty girls, old maids and grass widows."

Wednesday morning of last week at about 9 o'clock the life of John L. Snyder of Port Trevorton was crushed out by a heavy wagon. Mr. Snyder had been at work at J. Bogar's saw mill and had started away from the mill when the tongue of the wagon broke causing it to start down grade and coming in contact with a bank, it toppled over on the unfortunate man. The deceased was about 50 years old and is survived by a widow and two children.
Gensburg, the Middleburg and Mifflinburg clothier gave a grand opening yesterday at his Middleburg store. A silver souvenir was given to every person who entered the store besides a beautiful carnation.

Glenn Sheaffer, of near Oriental, was accidently shot by his twin brother, Earl, on Saturday night, April 18, and died Friday morning, April 24 in the Mary Packer hospital in Sunbury. The boys were dressing getting ready to go to the store, when the gun, an old Spanish type, accidently discharged, hitting Earl.
Mr. Uriah Klose of Paxtonville, who is nearly 81 years of age, made a business trip to Sunbury Saturday evening. This was the first time Mr. Klose ever was in the movies and he reported that he enjoyed it very much.

    In 1793 there were no post offices north of Harrisburg. The first post offices in the area were at Sunbury, established October 1, 1795, and Northumberland, established about two months later. These offices were served by horseback riders from Harrisburg.
    The first post office established in Snyder County was at Selinsgrove in July 1808, with Jacob Lechner, a brother-in-law of Governor Simon Snyder as post master. Prior to this time, residents evidently got their mail at Sunbury or Northumberland.
    The following year, 1809, James Cummings opened a stage-line through Milton to Williamsport, and in 1815 Charles Hegins opened the first stage-line to Harrisburg. Naturally, the stages not only carried people...they also carried mail.
   So as these lines of stages brought the mail into Sunbury, postal riders were used to reach the other inland towns. The post office was established in Lewistown 1798, Milton 1799, Danville 1800, and Mifflintown in 1808.
    The Union Times of 1815 published that a postal route was established from Franklin county by way of Mifflintown to Selinsgrove which accomodated the new post office at McAlisterville (1815), Beavertown (1816), and Middleburg (1814) along the

way. The Mt. Pleasant Mills and Freeburg post offices date from 1818.

With the opening of the Pennsylvania Canal in 1829-30, there were packet boats which carried passengers and mail, three times a week. New post offices followed the building of the canal: McKees Half Falls (1828), Chapman (1833), Liverpool (1826), and Shamokin Dam (1834).

Meanwhile, stage routes continued to replace post riders. Gaugler and Wallis opened a stage route from Selinsgrove to Mifflintown in 1851, and on November 24, 1852, they were awarded the contract to carry the mail between Selinsgrove and Mifflintown three times a week, leaving at 7 am. Passenger fare from Selinsgrove to Mifflintown was $1.50.

Two horse mail wagon that would make two trips per day between Beaver Springs and Troxelville.

A history of RFD (Rural Free Delivery) which brought the US Post Office to the farms and countryside residents of the nations.

    It was 1869 before Selins-grove secured daily mail service. And with the establishment of several passenger trains on the newly opened Sunbury and Lewistown railroad in 1876, daily service came to towns along its route and new post offices at Paxtonville (1871), McClure (1872), and Globe Mills (1872).

    One of the greatest transformations in the postal service was the inauguration of rural delivery. Rural Free Delivery (RFD) was the policy of providing free mail delivery and mail services to the homes of farmers out in the country so they wouldn’t have to travel into town to get their mail and stamps.

    The first RFD routes were around 25-30 miles long, and were   based upon what a man

with a horse and buggy could travel on unpaved rural country roads during a workday back then. With the establishment of rural delivery in Snyder County in 1905, within five years over 65% of the post offices discontinued services.

The last post office to be discontinued in Snyder County was Swineford, which succumbed to progress in 1955, after an existence of 66 years. This ended a unique situation where a borough with less than 1200 population could boast of two post offices and two First National Banks.

Information for this article gleaned from the Snyder County Historical Society Bulletin, published Summer 1973 and written by Charles F. Snyder.

The History of Post Offices
In Snyder County