Mail Transportation
Bernalillo County

Mail was carried through the area by the 'Mission Supply Service' as early as 1599. This supply route originated in Mexico City and made the round trip every three years. Alameda was first settled in 1696 and San Felipe de Albuquerque was founded in 1706 with 35 families totaling 252 people. Neither Albuquerque nor Alameda had an official post office under the Spanish or Mexican Governments.
With the Alcalde responsible for the mail and revenues, Albuquerque did receive its mail from Mexico and Spain every three years directly from the Mission Supply Service from 1706 to 1750. In 1750, the service was increased to once a year with a route to Chihuahua.
Since communication was required between the Spanish settlements, military dispatches would have carried personal as well as official correspondence from Santa Fe. The first scheduled mail runs were not made until 1873. The Mission Supply Service was again changed in 1783 to terminate in El Paso and the frequency of the trips increased to one every three or four months. In 1815, the service was improved and the mail was received and dispatched monthly.
Albuquerque first received mail from the United States in 1822 via Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Trail. This service continued even after New Mexico was captured by Colonel Stephen Kearny in 1846.
A-11 of the Mexican mail routes were terminated with the capture on New Mexico. In Albuquerque, mail and official documents were delivered by military dispatch riders to a new post west of the old town plaza. It was not until 1849 that Albuquerque first received mail directly from the southern United States over a newly established road between San Antonio and El Paso, Texas. On April 17, 1851, Albuquerque was established as the 3rd United States Post Office in the New Mexico Territory. The mail was received from a newly established stage route between Santa Fe and a stage route was established between Santa Fe and San Antonio, Texas, via El Paso.
On March 2, 1862, the residents of Albuquerque discovered the Confederate flag flying above the town. All mail service was stopped with the occupation and did not resume, under war time conditions, until the Confederates were defeated at Glorieta Pass and driven back to El Paso. Alameda became the second post office to be established in Bernalillo County on December 10, 1866. It was added to the stage route from Santa Fe.
The first mail carried by train arrived in Albuquerque on April 5, 1880. The expansion of the railroad led to the opening of the Isleta Post Office on September 26, 1882. The Chilili Post Office was opened on October 23, 1882, and created the need to establish a new mail route out of the Manzano Post Office. The mail for this community in the southeastern corner of the county was routed to Los Lunas on the railroad and sent to Manzano on a star route.
The railroad tracks were laid two miles east of the Albuquerque plaza. This , led to the establishment of the New Albuquerque Post Office on February 10, 1881. To resolve a political crisis, the Old Albuquerque Post Office was opened on February 2, 1883. Around the mid 1880's a mule-drawn street railway was built to connect the two towns. The railway was used to transport mail between the two post offices. A stage line was established between Albuquerque and Cuba about 1885. This new route also carried the mail for Alameda. The Tijeras Post Office was established on August 29, 1888. A star route was established out of the Albuquerque Post Office to deliver the mail.
This route was later extended to deliver mail to other offices in the east mountain area. The New Mexico Central Railroad (NMC RR) was completed in 1903 from Santa Fe to Torrance. The mail for Chilili was then routed to the McIntosh Post Office and delivered to Chilili by a new route. The Barton (Fdgewood) Post Office, originally established in western Bernalillo County in 1908, was routed to Moriarty on the NMC RR.
Electric streetcars were installed in Albuquerque in 1905 to replace the horse drawn cars that connected the two parts of Albuquerque. These cars were also used to transport mail between the two offices. The Cedar Crest and Sandia Park Post Offices were established in 1925. This created the need to extend the Tijeras route. The Western Air Express (WAF,) and the Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) merged in 1930 to form Transcontinental and Western Air, Inc. (TWA) and secured a contract that made Albuquerque an important link in the post office's new transcontinental Airmail service. TWA's inaugural flight on October 25, 1930, also carried Airmail.
Varney Speed Lines (Continental) received an airmail contract on July 15, 1934 connecting Albuquerque with El Paso and Pueblo, Colorado. Although Albuquerque was the only office in Bernalillo County to receive air service, it did improve the mail service to all of the offices.
On July 1, 1963, with the creation of Zip Code, Albuquerque became a Sectional Center Facility (SCF). The Albuquerque Post Office became responsible for the processing and distribution of mail to all of the 870 ZIP Code offices. New Highway Contract Routes (HCRS) were established to all areas of the state. Very few changes were needed in Bernalillo County. The frequency of some of the routes was increased and all of the offices in service now received mail daily.
The Railway Post Office service had been decreasing for several years and ended on October 14, 1967. Although some mail was still transported on trains, the largest portion of first class mail now traveled by air or truck. Since the HCR service was already in place, this had very little impact on the offices in the county. The transportation of mail in Bernalillo County has changed very little since the 1960s. Of the twenty five post offices that have been established in the county, only five remain in service as independent offices.

Post Masters:

ALAMEDA

ALBUQUERQUE

©2005  C. W. Barnum