The Territory of Washington was incorporated on March 2, 1853, a period of time in which the village of Seattle consisted of a church, a brothel, two blockhouses, a post office, and a small assortment of homes. Mail at that time had to be sent on a steamship that sailed bimonthly from San Francisco to Astoria, Oregon, and then made its way to Seattle.
This ledger sheet records the mailed items received in Seattle between August 27 and October 10, 1853, noting the originating cities such as Salem and Sauvie Island in Oregon Territory, and San Francisco. The ledger sheet also tallies the stamp costs that brought the mail to Seattle. This ledger begins the day that Postmaster and settler Arthur A. Denny (1822-1899) received the first United States mail ever delivered in Seattle.
Caption information source: "How the Post Office Created America," by Winifred Gallagher, p. 123, Penguin Books, 2017 Caption information source: "History of the Seattle General Postoffice," by Nicholas C. Cullina, pp. 211-217, retrieved from https://journals.lib.washington.edu/index.php/WHQ/article/viewFile/7028/6065 Caption information source: "Seattle Beginnings: first Seattle Post Office opens on October 12, 1852," by Greg Lange, HistoryLink.org Essay 384
ID Number: 1957.1281.3
Date: 1853
Physical Description: 1 sheet ; b&w ; 12 x 18 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
