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CHARLESTOWN POST OFFICE
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By Darlene M. McCall
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The early American colonies had an official postal system as early as 1639. In that year, the Massachusetts Colony gave Richard Fairbanks permission to receive and dispatch ship mail at his home in Boston. He was paid one cent for every letter he handled. Early colonists did not like the system because the authorities had the right to open any mail to check if it contain statements against the king. Also the cost of postage was high and the colonist considered it a tax. The first great name in the American postal system was Benjamin Franklin. He served as co-deputy postmaster general of the colonies from 1753 until 1774.
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Charlestown, Maryland is the oldest incorporated town in Cecil County, formed by an Act of Assembly in 1742 as the first town at the head of the Chesapeake Bay. This fiat town soon developed into a major port because of the mandate that all grain in the area be shipped through Charlestown so that it could be taxed. As a thriving port, it is safe to believe that any postage would have been handled in Charlestown. Only deeds and the town commissioners' minutes survive from the pre-revolutionary period.
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The Continental Congress created a postal service in 1775 and appointed Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general. The Continental Congress decreed in 1782 that private letters could not be opened or delayed by postal authorities. After the Constitution was ratified and a new government was formed, President Washington wanted the nation to have an efficient mail service. He insisted that postal routes be laid out to speed the mail. By 1789, the nation had 75 post offices and fewer than 2,000 miles of post roads.
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Charlestown had a post office in the newly formed United States postal service. Coaches and riders with the mail followed the Post Road between Philadelphia and Baltimore, the traffic passing through the center of town. The first Charlestown postmaster was Patrick Hamilton. He was appointed January 5, 1776 and kept his post until October 5, 1785 when James Cresswell assumed charge. The next postmaster, Elizabeth Cresswell, was appointed April 5, 1786. Her appointment made her the second women ever employed by the United States Postal Service. The first was Miss Mary K. Goddard, appointed postmaster at Baltimore in 1775.
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Charlestown had trouble trying to keep its post office. In July 1777, the authorities wanted to move the offices to Susquehanna Ferry. This was where the ferry crossed the Susquehanna River about six miles west of Charlestown. Offended, people felled about 100 trees to block the road according to Ebenezer Hazard, postal surveyor for the postmaster general. He decided not to go into Charlestown and had a lot of trouble traveling around the town. He was obliged to ride through the bushes and some swampy places but got safely around.
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In 1790, the town again found itself fighting to keep its post office and the Post Road running through the town. The Maryland legislature passed a law to straightened and change several roads. George Johnston's History of Cecil County states that, "Richard Snowdon Thomas, Thomas Maffit and Jacob Hollingsworth were appointed commissioners to lay out and survey, mark and bound, a road from Susquehanna lower ferry to the ford at the Furnace, from thence to Charlestown, from thence to the bridge at the head of North East, and from thence through Elkton towards Christiana, to the Delaware line." Angry town's people protested vigorously, fearful that straightening the road north of the town would lead travelers to by-pass Charlestown. The road was necessary to survival of the town. The stage coaches brought passengers to the taverns and inns. At one time there were eight taverns all operating at the same time. The people of Charlestown, having lost the courthouse and related economic activity to Elkton in 1787, were afraid of losing this business and decided to fight the issue. They held a special meeting of the Town Commissioners on October 3, 1792. It was decided that Nathan Norton, the register was to pay William Graham for a wagon to take the voters to the election.
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The minutes from the Town Commissioners' meetings later show the following:
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November 22, 1792
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Commissioners present: Patrick Hamilton, Alexander Hasson, Nathan Norton, William Howell and James Wylie.
The Commissioners taking under consideration on the great disadvantages to Charles Town which it must of course suffer it the Post Road and Post Office should be removed from it - are of opinion that every necessary means should be used for continuing the said Road to pass through said Town and a Post Office to be continued in it; - therefore the said Comm. Resolve that a petition be drawn up to be presented to the General Assembly for continuing the Post Road to pass through said Town and money advanced out of the public money belonging to Charles Town to bear the necessary Expenses of a Person to attend the General Assembly on said Business.
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The Charlestown Commissioners wished to send another petition to Annapolis. Mr. Nathan Norton author of the first petition is out of town, so in desperation they decided to recall the first petition to use as an aid in writing the second.
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November 11, 1793
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This board think it absolutely necessary to send to Major Foreman (Major Thomas M. Foreman was a member of the legislature in 1792) an express, requesting he would forward to them the petition delivered to him by Mr. William Linton in Annapolis during the session of assembly 1792. Accordingly a letter is wrote Major Foreman and John Huddabuck undertakes to deliver it. He is to be paid by the Commissioners three dollars. He is to set out early tomorrow morning.
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March 3, 1794
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Delivered 4 dollars of town money to Mr. William Linton to fee council to plead in favor of the town on the road law.
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June 1, 1795
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The Commissioners resolve that William Linton attend the General Assembly with the Petition for continuing the Post Road and Post Office through Charles Town and that he be paid for his time and his expenses out of the Public money belonging to Charles Town at a reasonable rate; and order and direct Nathan Norton, Register and Treasurer to deliver to said William Linton all the public money that he has on hand belonging to Charles Town to answer the aforesaid purposes.
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The Commissioners also allow said Wm. Linton if it should appear necessary to engage Council to appear in the House of Assembly to support the aforesaid Petition and to engage said council for any sum not exceeding Twenty Dollars to be paid out of the public money belonging to Charles Town.
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The Town Commissioners failed to give us any more details on their fight to retain the Post Road and the post office, but they remain in town to this day. The post office is now located in the old school building. The school was built in 1877 on property laid out for the town fairs on Market Street. Charlestown has a history that gives its residents reason to be proud of their heritage.
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| References: |
| Minutes of the meetings of the Charlestown Town Commissioners |
| Maryland Archives, Vol. XII |
| List of Post Masters of Charlestown from the National Archives |
| History of Cecil County, Maryland by George Johnston |
| Maryland Historical Magazine, 1951 |
| World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 15 |
