Santa Fe and Los Alamos County Post Office History
This Project made possible by James W. White
Transcribed by C. W. Barnum
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Post Offices Arranged by date of establishment

Mail transportation in
Santa Fe and Los Alamos Counties

Mail service in the New Mexico portion of New Spain did not begin on a schedule until instructions were issued in 1783 to establish regular mail delivery between El Paso and Santa Fe. Before this time, mail (mostly official documents) was transported to and from Mexico City with the Mission Supply Service organized in 1609. This caravan arrived in Santa Fe once every three years.

Around the mid 1700's, merchants from Chihuahua gained control of the Supply Service and the frequency was increased to once each year. Santa Fe was a remote village and the road was long and treacherous, even without the always possible problems with Indians. Orders from the Spanish Crown were obviously very old, by the time they reached the officials in Santa Fe. Around 1800, because of the Indians, mail was separated from the supplies and sent every three or four months with a small escort of soldiers and civilians wishing- to travel with them. Merchants' wagons and livestock were not permitted due to the need to travel fast and often at night. It was not a good idea to leave a lot of wagon tracks and dust behind them.

By 1815, there were probably mail delivery routes out of Santa Fe to carry documents and letters to other settlements. This would be reinforced by the fact that settlements had been established at San Miguel del Bado in 1794 and San Jose in 1803. There were 20 regular soldiers stationed in Santa Fe in 1817 and one of their duties was the delivery of mail. The Albuquerque area would also have received some type of mail delivery since regular communication with Alameda and Tome was needed.

In 1822, William Becknell of Franklin, Missouri, was en route to trade with Indians when he was approached by a troop of Mexican soldiers. Expecting an attack, he was, instead, informed of Mexico's independence and invited to trade at Santa Fe. After all, the United States was much closer than Spain or the commercial centers of Mexico. For the first time, direct mail delivery was possible to areas outside of the old Spanish Territories through the freighters and travelers from Missouri. His route on the second trip, with wagons instead of pack animals, would become the Santa Fe Trail.

At the time the Santa Fe Trail was opened, the fiercest Indians of America claimed this area. The Osage, Kiowa, Apache, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Utes, or some other far traveling tribes could be encountered as the wagons moved west. Even if the Indians were not attacking, they were stealing livestock, looting camps, or demanding food. The merchants of Santa Fe and Albuquerque were quick to take advantage of the trade with America and some entered into partnerships with the Missouri traders to avoid the high tariffs set by the Mexican government. Many of the merchants from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Belen were sending their own trade wagons to Missouri by 1826. By 1843, more than half the trade wagons crossing the plains belonged to New Mexicans. Santa Fe had become the port of entry for trade goods destined to Mexico and California.

The Mexican post office was closed when General Kearny captured Santa Fe on August 18, 1846. Fort Marcy was immediately established and a military mail system was installed and served the area until the Santa Fe Post Office was established in 1849. The fort was established just north and east of the plaza to protect Santa Fe from any civil riots following the occupation. A military type Pony Express was established between forts in addition to the private carriers. The mail was carried by travelers and traders and was deposited in the first post office they came to. All of the mail was sent postage due until the Santa Fe Post Office was established. The first mail contract was awarded to Waldo, Hall and Company in 1850 to deliver mail monthly, by stagecoach, between Independence and Santa Fe.

In 1851, a mail route was awarded to Henry Skillman to deliver mail between Santa Fe and San Antonio, Texas, via El Paso. Mail was received from this route every other month until January of 1853 when the service was increased to once a month. New mail service was established with Denver, Colorado, when a stage route contract was signed in September of 1862. The' route came through Bent's Fort to Santa Fe. Santa Fe was the hub for supplies and mail for the New Mexico Territory. Routes were established to provide mail to new post offices and forts. About 1875, a mail and supply route was established to Fort Wingate and Prescott, Arizona. For a short time, Tom Horn, a famous gun fighter, worked as a driver on this line.

The railroad finally arrived in Santa Fe County in 1879. The citizens watched in disbelief as the tracks reached Lamy and turned south toward Albuquerque. The capital city, which had given its name to the railroad, had been bypassed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. Local merchants, bankers, and Bishop John Lamy exerted enough political pressure to get a $150,000 bond issue passed to build a branch line into Santa Fe. On February 16, 1880, Santa Fe received its first train. Railway Post Office (RPO) service started almost immediately. Santa Fe now received and dispatched all of the mail on the trains.

The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was completed into Espanola in December of 1880. once again the residents of Santa Fe had to take measures into their own hands to receive railroad service. The construction of the tracks was completed from Santa Fe to Espanola and service was started on January 1887. The completion of the Chili Line provided RPO service to connections in Denver and west to Durango, Farmington and Salt Lake City. This service was a definite improvement in mail service for Santa Fe County.

It is not clear why the New Mexico Central Railroad was ever built between Santa Fe and Torrance. The line was completed in 1903 and provided, service only three days a week. The RPO did connect to other railroads at Willard and Torrance but this would not have improved mail service since connections were already available at Lamy. The RPO car was discontinued after eleven years but closed pouch service did continue. By the middle 1930s, only the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad was still serving Santa Fe. Highway Contract Routes had beep established to Lamy, Albuquerque and Las Vegas- to replace the train service. A route to Chama was established to supplement the trains and provide mail service to the post offices on the route.

Airmail arrived in Santa Fe in 1948 with Air Mail Route #64 out of Dallas, Texas. Route #2, from Chicago and New York, soon followed. These routes were both with transcontinental commercial airlines contracted to carry Air Mail. Around 1950, a contract route was established to carry mail to Los Alamos. Prior to this, the mail was picked up by military personnel at the Santa Fe Post Office.

With the introduction of ZIP Code, Santa Fe became a Sectional Center Facility in 1963 and was responsible for processing and dispatching mail to all of the offices in the 875 ZIP Code area. The contract routes were increased or extended to provide mail service to all of the offices.

Postmasters:

OTOWI / LOS ALAMOS

BONANZA CITY
Samuel Hull August 26, 1880
James F. Callander February 19, 1883

BUCKMAN
Harry S. Buckman June 22, 1899
Discontinued - January 15, 1903
Thomas J. Sawyer June 1, 1912
Charles Burton July 24, 1915
Lenna A. Stark October 31, 1917
Everett T. Mallery September 25, 1922

CANONCITO
Nestor Roibal September 30, 1879

CARNAHAN
Nellie Louise Dean February 8, 1927
William C. Gladin July 10, 1928

CERRILLOS

COWSPRING
Julio M. y Ortiz April 6, 1899
Vivian Garcia May 17, 1902

CUNDIYO
Noberto Vigil July 15, 1922
Elena T. Vigil October 23, 1936

DENNISON
Charles O. Hyer June 4, 1912

REAL DE DOLORES / DOLORAS
Real de Dolores
William H. Roberts March 1, 1869
Discontinued - March 25, 1870

DOLORES
Alfred J. Wolf March 17, 1887
Austin L. Kendall April 8, 1887
Edwin E. Sluder June 3, 1889
Discontinued - November 19, 1890
Hiram S. Haines March 12, 1894
George B. Hendricks July 30, 1895
William W. Atchison December 29, 1900

EDGEWOOD

OTTO
Otto H. E. Goetz June 4, 1907
Allen B. Lasswell December 13, 1913
Archie C. Gilmer January 23,1, 1918
Mae Gilmer February 14, 1921
Verdie Norris March 9, 1922
Walter 0. Dent September 28, 1922

POJUAQUE
John Bouquet February 25, 1870
Mrs. Petra de L. Bouquet May 25, 1896
Evaristo F. Trujillo May 6, 1914

ROMERO
Carlos Romero April 4, 1895
Amado L. Baca March 7, 1899

SAN PEDRO

CANADA / SANTA CRUZ

SANTA FE

STANLEY

TESUQUE

CARBONATEVILLE TURQUESA
Carbonateville:
Olivas V. Avy July 10, 1879
Discontinued - February 19, 1880

Turquesa:
Olivas V. Avy April 5, 1880
Samuel W. Bonner June 22, 1880
Harry Beckwith December 21, 1881
Harvey Beckwith January 11, 1882
Samuel W. Bonner February 1, 1882
Jordan B. Cattle September 22, 1882
Cyrus Wells August 24, 1888

VENUS
George N. Meltabarger February 10, 1909
James F. Coates March 31, 1917
Louie 0. Thornell November 3, 1920
Effie Miller August 12, 1921
Charles Allen July 27, 1925

WALDO
Stephen K. Wells May 20, 1919
William R. Harper April 22, 1921
G. Malpass Grubnau February 15, 1923
Victor Carl Grubnau January 30, 1925
Esther T. Grubnau February 6, 1925
Victor Carl Grubnau February 24, 1926
Ida Mae Brown December 11, 1929

EMMEDIO
Jose L. Jimenez September 12, 1932

GALISTEO

LA GLORIETA / GLORIETA

GOLDEN

HOBART
William E. Van Volkenburgh May 19, 1894
Edward F. Hobart October 19, 1895
William H. Hough October 22, 1897
Marion C. Hobart April 20, 1898
William H. Hough September 6, 1901
Henry J. Johnson April 9, 1909
Frederic S. Blackman September 13, 1910

HYER
Charles O. Hyer January 7, 1908
Samuel Hadlock May 26, 1911
Albert A. Brown October 30, 1914
Lee Ward June 23, 1919
Albert A. Brown February 9, 1923
May VanScoyk January 10, 1925

ILDEFONZO
Jose E. Gomez August 14, 190
Discontinued March 15, 1907
Cristino Montoya March 22, 1907
Donaciano Gonzales December 21, 1909
Jose B. Espinosa August 8, 1911
Felipita Espinosa March 10, 1913
Sostena T. Gomez March 6, 1914

JUANA LOPEZ
Nicolas Pino December 10, 1866

KENNEDY
Otto L. Rice May 31, 1902
Benton S. Jackson April 20, 1904
John R. Bean January 12, 1905
Benito Seiler October 7, 1905
Guy V. Fisher June 29, 1906

LA BAJADA
Filomeno Gallegos July 27, 1870
Juan Hovey October 30, 1871
Discontinued March 25, 1872
Robert E. Bradford June 12, 1872

LA CIENEGA
Apolonio Rael April 17, 1906

LAMY

MADRID

NAMBE
Miguel Herrera April 16, 1901

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