An old mailbox was one of the fascinating finds my wife and I made a few months ago as we sorted through old items long-stored in our barn. It was not just any old mailbox. It was still attached to the post that held it beside the road in front of the family farm, and stenciled on it was “Echo Farm,” and my grandfather’s name … F.S. Sargent.
This mailbox was about the size you’ll see today, but it was an early design that stood with its longer side facing the road. Instead of a front-opening drop-down door, the whole side of it flipped up. It will soon stand again in Judy’s garden.
As I researched early mail delivery in the Twin Cities, it became evident that our find had been the very same box visited almost daily by one of Auburn’s first R.F.D. (Rural Free Delivery) mailmen. I remember my grandparents speaking highly of Willard H. Waterman, a dedicated custodian of the U.S. Mail for 30 years. He was one of the five mail carriers on the first rural routes in Auburn.
It was April 1 of 1901 when the service to country homes and farms began in Auburn. Each carrier provided his own horse and wagon, each route varied between 20 and 24 miles, and the pay was $500 a year. In addition to Waterman, Auburn’s pioneers of rural mail delivery were Merton G. Stackpole, Idell F. Wakefield, Daniel B. Stevens, Royal Penley and Preston Carver, whose son, William, took over that route in a short time.
While Auburn’s territory covered many square miles, Lewiston was mostly an urban community and R.F.D. service wasn’t established until the next year, July of 1902, when Joseph J. Jackson assumed the duties. He was required to keep two horses, so his pay was $600 a year.
Jackson reported to a stone building on the same site as the present Lewiston Post Office. Auburn’s post office was at the Pickard Block. A fire at that site forced the post office to take temporary residency at the Roak Block across Main Street. Auburn’s post office on Turner Street was built several years later.
There was no standardized design for the R.F.D. mailman’s conveyance. At least two of the early carriers used wagons they adapted for their needs.
Waterman provided himself with a snug little road cart built somewhat on the plans of a small mail truck. There was barely room in it for the carrier and his one bag of mail.
Stevens used Yankee ingenuity to assure his sleigh would keep going when the snow was too deep for the runners. He attached a smooth hardwood plank underneath that slid as easily as a toboggan over the drifts.
Stevens also fashioned a glassed-in top held in place by two bolts. His route took him past his home at Gamage Street and Park Avenue twice a day, so if a change in weather called for it, he could make a five-minute alteration to the sleigh.
About 1911, four of Auburn’s carriers switched from horse power to automobiles, including a Buick, a Maxwell and a Reo, but the Model T Ford soon proved to be the auto of choice. Waterman wore out two Model T Fords in his years of service.
R.F.D. carriers became good friends with many of their postal patrons. Stories told by Mary Louise Stetson in the Lewiston Evening Journal’s Magazine Section of June 30, 1945, recalled these details and other anecdotes. She told how carriers often gave rural residents a ride to town.
They often agreed to do some very unusual errands. Stetson wrote that the first baby dress worn by one of Auburn’s teachers was made from material selected and purchased by her mother’s accommodating R.F.D. man.
One of the carriers once found a button in a mailbox. Assuming the lady at that house needed to find a match, he did the best he could and bought a card of buttons that he delivered. It was then he learned the button had simply been dropped in the mailbox by a child.
The postal patrons also watched out for their carriers. Many times, they helped carriers get their autos or wagons out of ditches or snowdrifts. Sometimes carriers had to leave their vehicles at the bottom of hills and deliver the mail on foot. On one snowy day, a homeowner came to the mailbox and presented the driver with a dry pair of mittens.
“Take these,” he ordered briefly. “You can get yours back tomorrow.”
R.F.D. service was far from routine. The dedication of those mail pioneers was extraordinary.
David Sargent is a freelance writer and a native of Auburn. He can be reached by sending email to dasargent@maine.com.
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