Mail Transportation
in Chaves County

After the end of the Civil War, the Texas ranchers returned to a surplus of cattle, no local market and no way to get the cattle to outside markets. Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving decided to drive their cattle to the west and sell them to the forts and civilian markets in New Mexico. They discovered rich cattle country along the Pecos River Valley. John Chisum, after his first cattle drive failed, decided to try the Loving Goodnight trail. He liked the country so well that he established his base in the Roswell area and built a cattle empire. Other Texas ranchers, including Lucien Maxwell, also moved their herds to the area. It is said that mail was placed in a saddle bag and one of the cowboys would carry it as far as he was going in the direction of a town. He would leave the bag at the side of the road when he turned off and it would be picked up and carrier further by the next passerby. 

Eventually this mail would reach a post office. It is certain that picking up the mail was a high priority when anyone went into a town (usually Lincoln). In 1869, Van Smith and Aaron Wilburn moved from Nebraska and settled on the Rio Hondo just west of the Pecos River. The Hispanic settlers who had first located there called the site Rio Hondo. Van and Aaron built two adobe buildings at what is now the corner of 4th Street and Main. One was used as a general store and the other was an inn. Van decided to name his store and inn after his father, Roswell Smith, and filed his land claim under this name on March 4, 1871. Van and Aaron convinced the local ranchers, including John Chisum and Lucien Maxwell to pitch in and hire Mat Devine to deliver mail and merchandise to and from Las Vegas, New Mexico. Van petitioned the Post Office Department to establish a post office at his store and recommended the name of Roswell. When this was approved and the office was opened on August 20, 1873, the mail was received from the Star Route served by the stage line from Las Vegas to Mesilla. 

The Las Vegas stage line was abolished when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad was completed down the Rio Grande valley but a mail route remained in place from Santa Rosa. A Star Route, using a buckboard, was established to deliver the mail from the AT&SF RR at San Antonio, New Mexico, to Roswell. By 1885 other offices were being established around what would become Chaves County. A Star Route was established from Roswell to provide mail to the Chisum Post Office. The Lower Penasco Post Office in the southwestern part of the county received mail from a route between Tularosa and Seven Rivers. In 1891 the Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railroad completed construction to Carlsbad and a stage line delivered mail every other day to Roswell. 

The railroad was completed to Roswell in 1894 and Railway Post Office (RPO) service was established connecting Roswell with the Texas & Pacific Railroad at Pecos, Texas. The mail service from the north was improved significantly when the railroad was completed to Amarillo, Texas, in 1899. Roswell now had RPO service from the north and south and connected with the AT&SF RR with the western route to San Antonio. The terminus of the mail route to the west was changed from San Antonio to Carrizozo in 1902. The mail was transported in a horse drawn buggy when the weather permitted and by horseback in inclement weather. In January of 1906, Roswell became the first post office in the country to establish a contract automobile route. 

The route (#67348) carried mail and passengers between Roswell and the railroad at Torrance. The terminus of this route was changed to Vaughn in 1910. Another automobile route was established between Roswell and Alamogordo in 1908. It took two years to complete the grading on this road. By this time most of the mail routes were using automobiles. Roswell had become the hub providing mail to other post offices as they were established. In the mid 1930s, the RPO service was supplemented by contract routes from Roswell to Tucumcari and Carlsbad. The growth of the communities in Chaves County and the increase in mail volume required the additional transportation. A route had also been established from Roswell to Brownsfield, Texas, and another to El Paso. 

The airport was completed in 1929 but Air Mail was not introduced to Roswell until 1938. Continental Airlines extended passenger and Air Mail service into Roswell in 1940. On April 23, 1955, Roswell had a parade to welcome New Mexico’s only Highway Post Office (HPO) service. The busses were designed the same as the RPO cars and mail was processed while in transit. The route replaced the RPO service that had been discontinued between Clovis and Roswell in 1954. The Roswell Post Office became a Sectional Center Facility (SCF) when ZIP Code was introduced in 1963. Since Roswell was now responsible for the processing and distribution of mail to the ZIP Code 882 offices, the expensive HPO service was terminated in 1964. Roswell now has routes to and from Albuquerque; Denver, Colorado; Midland, Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas; Clovis and Las Cruces. Other routes deliver mail to and from the post offices in southeastern New Mexico. 

Postmasters

ACME

BLACKDOM
James A. Eubank April 10, 1912
Thomas L. Leathers March 9, 1915
Bessie E. Malone February 23, 1916

BOAZ

BYNUM
John F. Bynum October 24, 1907

CHAVES
Mattie M. Griffith March 9, 1932
Clifford Lyle Simpson March 17, 1938
Ethel L. Harrell December 15, 1939
C. Ethel Askew (acting) November 25, 1941
Printes Shirley (acting) May 14, 1942

CHISUM
Angie I. Chisum August 14, 1884

CUMBERLAND
Charles A. Petty August 14, 1907
Archi C. Hall February 4, 1908
Emily A. Welty August 18, 1908
James W. Young November 20, 1909
William F. Welty July 14, 1917

OLIVE
William H. Cloppert May 5, 1909
George A. Malone March 1, 1929
Thelma A. Malone (acting) May 12, 1944
Hazel T. Van Eaton October 7, 1944

ALELLEN / ORCHARD PARK

LAKE VAN / DEXTER
Lake Van
Frank G. Campbell May 4, 1897
Milton H. Elford April 11, 1898
Discontinued - December 17, 1898

Dexter

DUNKEN
Oscar J. Dunken November 25, 1908
William H. Cady July 28, 1914
Joseph A. Jones August 31, 1918

ELK

ELKINS

ELVA
Edwin M. Ulshoeffer June 23, 1910

FELIX

FELIX #2
Eva M. White February 26, 1934

FLYING H
Clement Hendricks March 5, 1938
Simeon C. Williams January 3, 1956
Elsie C. Hendricks April 3, 1959

FRAZIER
William McKinley Smith April 27, 1937
Connie B. Hite July 9, 1941
Bessie Naomi Hite November 12, 1942
Alma Shields May 23, 1949

GREENFIELD
William E. Linton August 28, 1911
Rodney M. Hays July 13, 1912
George A. Douglas February 2, 1916

FELIZ / HAGERMAN

Kennedy
Silas E. Kennedy June 2, 1888
George W. Wood November 13, 1889

LAKE ARTHUR

LISTON
Henry G. Liston June 22, 1907

LOWER PENASCO

ROANOKE
Schuyler A. Ward March 25, 1908 

ROSWELL

©2005