FIRST - Post Office in Seattle, WA
N 47° 36.263 W 122° 20.148
10T E 549923 N 5272545
A historic plaque notes the site of the first post office in Seattle.
Waymark Code: WMYRQ1
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 07/18/2018
Views: 2
Located in front of the Federal Office Building in downtown Seattle is a small plaque monumented on a brick railing. It reads:
| ARTHUR A DENNY IN HIS LOG CABIN HOME ON
THIS SPOT OPENED THE FIRST
POST OFFICE OF SEATTLE
AUGUST 27, 1853.
--------.--------
This Tablet was Erected by the Washington
University State Historical Society...
November 13, 1905 |
Historylink.org (link below) contains a brief history of the first post office in Seattle and reads:
On October 12, 1852, the first Seattle Post Office is established. Arthur A. Denny (1822-1899) is appointed postmaster. The post office is located at the northeast corner of Front Street (renamed 1st Avenue) and Marion Street. It is the first post office to open in King County.
More than 60 years later a reporter for The Seattle Times interviewed Louisa C. Frye, daughter of Arthur Denny, who as a small child watched as her father sorted Seattle's first mail. At the time of the 1917 article, Louisa Frye was the city's oldest resident, and had in her possession the desk with its small cubbyholes that served as the post office in the Denny home. The article relates that Louisa Frye
"used to sit on the table and watch her father sort the mail when a boat came in. Being postmaster wasn't a very monumental task in those days because there was very little mail coming or going" (The Seattle Times).
If you care to read about the first post office locations in Seattle in the early years, the University of Washington contains a journal in PDF format that you may read.
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