Middlebury post office opened in 1815

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The sign to the right on Ferrante and Delaney’s store (formerly Bissell’s Store) marks the location of the Middlebury Post Office. The building was moved from the Green to Judd Corner, now the site of Pies and Pub, in 1907 to make way for construction of Westover School. (Middlebury Historical Society photo)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

Middleburians depend upon one institution each and every day of our lives, one that is among the oldest in town. Its staff works tirelessly, mainly behind the scenes, and is exceptionally effective. I’m referring, of course, to the United States Postal Service, created on July 26, 1775, as the Post Office Department by the Second Continental Congress. It appointed Benjamin Franklin as first postmaster general, after he served as deputy postmaster from 1753-1774.

Our postal service is enshrined in the United States Constitution, Article I, section 8, wherein Congress was given the power “To establish Post Offices and post Roads.” Later, the president was authorized to appoint postmasters.

Middlebury’s post office was established April 20, 1815, and Stiles Thompson appointed the first postmaster. Stiles apparently married Hannah Hopkins and they eventually removed to Wallingford, thence migrating to Champion, Jefferson County, New York, east of Watertown and Lake Ontario. There have been a number of postmasters since Thompson, including Larmon Townsend, our first selectman. In 1850, Maria Bronson became the first woman postmistress.

Postal service had existed in the colonies since the early 1600s. Sorry to say it, but the story of Ben Franklin laying out the roads and planting milestones appears to be apocryphal. Francis Lovelace, a royal governor of New York, initiated both the U.S. Postal Service and the Boston Post Road in the 1670s.

While there were stagecoaches between towns, for example, New Haven and Litchfield, with Waterbury between the two, for much of the time through the 1800s it was preferable to have a family friend or another person deliver personal letters and other messages. People rarely used envelopes (which were mainly homemade) until after the mid-1800s, preferring to fold the leaves of a letter, sometimes sealing them with a wax impression.

Middlebury’s post offices were in the local general store, which was one of the centers of the town for daily activity and had a room for large town meetings. Early in its history, stagecoaches were encouraged to transport mail. Middlebury had regular stage deliveries three times a week.

In the 1800s, the Scott Store, later the Bissell Store, was located on the Green where Westover School is now. The stage coach from Waterbury would stop to deliver passengers, freight, and the mail. Fred and Martha Scott, who ran the store, also were appointed postmasters from the 1870s to the 1890s.

When the store was bought by Arthur W. Bissell and Anna Alura Waters, Arthur was subsequently appointed postmaster in 1901. The entire store was moved to Judd Corner to the current location of Pies and Pub Restaurant (a fire destroyed the original building) in 1907 to make way for the building of Westover School. Today, if you enter the restaurant’s front door and sit in a booth to the right, you’re in the old post office.

The 1960s were a fecund time for area post offices. On December 1, 1962, a new post office building, built by Matthew J. Reiser and Adele T. Reiser of Wethersfield, was dedicated at the corner of Middlebury Road (Route 64) and Tyler Crossing, when Mary D. Lawlor (1902-1991) was postmistress. In October, Prospect’s new post office had been dedicated, and a year earlier Woodbury’s post office was dedicated. In 1982, our post office was relocated to its present location in the Four Corners Store mall.

You are urged to join the Middlebury Historical Society by going online at MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or visiting them on Facebook. Questions about membership can be sent to Bob at robraff@frontier.com.