Post offices are important, not only to facilitate communication, but also to establish the name by which an unincorporated community's identity is carried through time. Using Planter on Key Largo as an example, the first line on the U.S. Postal proposal form dated November 10, 1891 was, "The proposed post office is to be called: Planter." Benjamin Franklin is generally called the father of the American postal service, as he was the first Postmaster General under the 1775 Continental Congress. Congress established the Post Office Department as a branch of the Treasury Department in 1789.
Monroe County came into existence on July 3, 1823. Key West was incorporated in 1828. The first Monroe County post office was opened in February 1829, in a building on the corner of Caroline and Front Streets in Key West. Rural delivery for most parts of the Upper Keys began in July 1961. Now we will consider the Upper Keys post offices.
INDIAN KEY Indian Key was not far behind Key West in time when its post office was established on May 21, 1833 with Silas Fletcher as postmaster. Fletcher was followed by Henry Waterhouse on April 19, 1834 and Charles Howe on February 9, 1835. In 1836, Indian Key became the seat of Dade County. Following the 1840 Indian massacre, on March 15, 1842, John Marshall was appointed postmaster and in September of the same year, Luther Hopkins was the postmaster. The post office was discontinued on May 29, 1843.
Postal research records generally use four verbs in referring to post offices: 1) Establish means one had never been there before. 2) Re-establish means to re-open a previous post office location. 3) Changed from means a name change for an existing post office, or delivery changed to another location. 4) Discontinued means to close.
A post office was not re-established until November 1, 1850 with William Hillard as postmaster. It appears that he served until it was discontinued again on August 5, 1872 and it is not clear of the specific use of the island during this time. According to the 1870 census it was mostly marine use and farming.
This was not the end, however, as the Alligator Reef Lighthouse was pre-assembled on Indian Key in 1873 and the post office was re-established with E. Ware as postmaster on March 11, 1873, but again discontinued November 20 of the same year. Once again, the post office re-established with William H. Bethel as postmaster on May 5, 1880 and discontinued again on September 21, 1880. Some may wonder why a post office was needed, but Indian Key was a bustling little community. Three known schooners (Emma, Euphemia and Clyde) were built in the 1870 and 1880 period. Officially, 1880 appears to be the death of the Indian Key post offices; however, once each year stamps are canceled during the Indian Key Festival.
PLANTER Sailboats provided the first mail service for the Keys. The 10-ton sailing ship Post Boy was awarded the first mail delivery contract and made round trips between Charleston and Key West. Her service was described as "regular irregularity" taking about two months for a round trip. A Key West attorney, William Hackley, in 1831 received two letters from his mother mailed one year previously from Virginia.
In 1848, the 1,100-ton, side-wheeler steamship Isabel began making semi-monthly mail runs and service was fairly reliable until the Civil War. Service reverted back and forth with sail and other boats until the railroad.
Our own early settlement of Planter on the south end of Key Largo was approved for a post office on December 23, 1891 with John Wesley Johnson (son of patriarch Mr. Sam) as postmaster. See the 1906 photo at the top of the page. The big, steam side-wheeler, now the City of Key West, could not go safely into the shallow waters of the Planter harbor, so John drove a wooden piling in deep water on which he attached two mail bag hangers - one for incoming and one for outgoing mail.
Daily he would place the mailbag on the piling and pick up a mailbag from either Key West or Coconut Grove, depending on which way the ship was traveling. This was effectively two-day mail service, which was not bad for a pineapple community. Presumably, the hurricanes of 1909 and 1910 did enough damage to the community that the Planter post office closed on October 15, 1910. Two other factors probably effected the closing of the post office. One is a pineapple blight reduced the pineapple production. Two is the railroad began daily service to the Upper Keys in 1908 and its location on the other side of the island could have attracted families to move away from coast to be near this new activity. Some combination of the three seemed to doom the Johnson location of the post office. This left the southern end of the island of Key Largo without local mail service. Mail service was changed to Islamorada which had had mail service by railroad since 1908.
ISLAMORADA In 1908, Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad brought semi-reliable mail service to all the Upper Keys. The same year Islamorada established its first post office. The first official post office application for Islamorada that I could find was made by Elsie M. Rue. Islamorada had a population of 150-200 at that time. John H. Russell had been appointed postmaster before this on June 1, 1908. Elsie M. Rue was appointed postmaster on October 21, 1908 and John A. Russell appointed on June 2, 1909.
When Bernard Russell's father, John A. Russell, became postmaster in 1909 he built a wooden post office building near the train depot. Later, this building was moved behind the depot and fronting the highway. In 1926 he began building a coral-rock post office building. Attached on the south end was a store, restaurant and gas station. The old concrete foundation for the post office is still there just behind the present "Marine Bank (1999)" and south of the present post office at mile marker 82.8, oceanside. No photo survives of this post office, so its replacement after the 1935 Hurricane is shown. This is now (1999) Marty's TV.
Monroe County came into existence on July 3, 1823. Key West was incorporated in 1828. The first Monroe County post office was opened in February 1829, in a building on the corner of Caroline and Front Streets in Key West. Rural delivery for most parts of the Upper Keys began in July 1961. Now we will consider the Upper Keys post offices.
INDIAN KEY Indian Key was not far behind Key West in time when its post office was established on May 21, 1833 with Silas Fletcher as postmaster. Fletcher was followed by Henry Waterhouse on April 19, 1834 and Charles Howe on February 9, 1835. In 1836, Indian Key became the seat of Dade County. Following the 1840 Indian massacre, on March 15, 1842, John Marshall was appointed postmaster and in September of the same year, Luther Hopkins was the postmaster. The post office was discontinued on May 29, 1843.
Postal research records generally use four verbs in referring to post offices: 1) Establish means one had never been there before. 2) Re-establish means to re-open a previous post office location. 3) Changed from means a name change for an existing post office, or delivery changed to another location. 4) Discontinued means to close.
A post office was not re-established until November 1, 1850 with William Hillard as postmaster. It appears that he served until it was discontinued again on August 5, 1872 and it is not clear of the specific use of the island during this time. According to the 1870 census it was mostly marine use and farming.
This was not the end, however, as the Alligator Reef Lighthouse was pre-assembled on Indian Key in 1873 and the post office was re-established with E. Ware as postmaster on March 11, 1873, but again discontinued November 20 of the same year. Once again, the post office re-established with William H. Bethel as postmaster on May 5, 1880 and discontinued again on September 21, 1880. Some may wonder why a post office was needed, but Indian Key was a bustling little community. Three known schooners (Emma, Euphemia and Clyde) were built in the 1870 and 1880 period. Officially, 1880 appears to be the death of the Indian Key post offices; however, once each year stamps are canceled during the Indian Key Festival.
PLANTER Sailboats provided the first mail service for the Keys. The 10-ton sailing ship Post Boy was awarded the first mail delivery contract and made round trips between Charleston and Key West. Her service was described as "regular irregularity" taking about two months for a round trip. A Key West attorney, William Hackley, in 1831 received two letters from his mother mailed one year previously from Virginia.
In 1848, the 1,100-ton, side-wheeler steamship Isabel began making semi-monthly mail runs and service was fairly reliable until the Civil War. Service reverted back and forth with sail and other boats until the railroad.
Our own early settlement of Planter on the south end of Key Largo was approved for a post office on December 23, 1891 with John Wesley Johnson (son of patriarch Mr. Sam) as postmaster. See the 1906 photo at the top of the page. The big, steam side-wheeler, now the City of Key West, could not go safely into the shallow waters of the Planter harbor, so John drove a wooden piling in deep water on which he attached two mail bag hangers - one for incoming and one for outgoing mail.
Daily he would place the mailbag on the piling and pick up a mailbag from either Key West or Coconut Grove, depending on which way the ship was traveling. This was effectively two-day mail service, which was not bad for a pineapple community. Presumably, the hurricanes of 1909 and 1910 did enough damage to the community that the Planter post office closed on October 15, 1910. Two other factors probably effected the closing of the post office. One is a pineapple blight reduced the pineapple production. Two is the railroad began daily service to the Upper Keys in 1908 and its location on the other side of the island could have attracted families to move away from coast to be near this new activity. Some combination of the three seemed to doom the Johnson location of the post office. This left the southern end of the island of Key Largo without local mail service. Mail service was changed to Islamorada which had had mail service by railroad since 1908.
ISLAMORADA In 1908, Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad brought semi-reliable mail service to all the Upper Keys. The same year Islamorada established its first post office. The first official post office application for Islamorada that I could find was made by Elsie M. Rue. Islamorada had a population of 150-200 at that time. John H. Russell had been appointed postmaster before this on June 1, 1908. Elsie M. Rue was appointed postmaster on October 21, 1908 and John A. Russell appointed on June 2, 1909.
When Bernard Russell's father, John A. Russell, became postmaster in 1909 he built a wooden post office building near the train depot. Later, this building was moved behind the depot and fronting the highway. In 1926 he began building a coral-rock post office building. Attached on the south end was a store, restaurant and gas station. The old concrete foundation for the post office is still there just behind the present "Marine Bank (1999)" and south of the present post office at mile marker 82.8, oceanside. No photo survives of this post office, so its replacement after the 1935 Hurricane is shown. This is now (1999) Marty's TV.
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