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No very satisfactory account of the origin and progress of the Postal Service of the country, in its more immediate connection with the local history of Buffalo, can now be compiled. The early records of the transportation service of the Post-Office Department, were originally meager and imperfect; and many of the books and papers of the Department, prior to 1837, were destroyed or lost when the public edifices at Washington were burned in 1814, and also when the building in which the Department was kept was destroyed by fire, in December, 1836. For these reasons the Hon. A. N. Zevely, Third Assistant Postmaster-General—who has kindly furnished extracts from the records and papers of the Department—has been able to afford but little information in respect to the early transportation of the mails in the western part of this State. Indeed, no information in respect to that service, prior to 1814, could be given; no route-books of older date than 1820 are now in the Department, and those from 1820 to 1835 are not so arranged as to show the running time on the several routes.
The records of the Appointment Office, and those of the Auditor's Office of the Department, are more full and perfect; and from these, and from various other sources of information, much that is deemed entirely reliable and not wholly uninteresting has been obtained.
Erastus Granger was the first Postmaster of Buffalo—or rather of "Buffalo Creek," the original name of the office. He was appointed on the first establishment of the office, September 30, 1804. At that time the nearest post-offices were at Batavia on the east, Erie on the west, and Niagara on the north. Mr. Granger was a second cousin of Hon. Gideon Granger, the fourth Postmaster-General of the United States, who held that office from 1801 to 1814.
The successors of our first Postmaster, and the dates of their respective appointments, appear in the following statement:
Julius Guiteau, May 6, 1818. Samuel Russel, April 25, 1831. Henry P. Russell, July 26, 1834. Orange H. Dibble, August 28, 1834. Philip Dorsheimer, June 8, 1838. Charles C. Haddock, October 12, 1841. Philip Dorsheimer, April 1, 1845. Henry K. Smith, August 14, 1846. Isaac R. Harrington, May 17, 1849. James O. Putnam, September 1, 1851. James G. Dickie, May 4, 1853. Israel T. Hatch, November 11, 1859. Almon M. Clapp, (the present incumbent) March 27, 1861.The Buffalo Post-office was the only post-office within the present limits of the city until January, 1817, when a post-office was established at Black Rock. The appointments of Postmasters at Black Rock have been as follows:
James L. Barton, January 29, 1817. Elisha H. Burnham, July 11, 1828. Morgan G. Lewis, June 29, 1841. George Johnson, July 7, 1853. Daniel Hibbard, (the present incumbent) June 1, 1861.In July, 1854, the Post-office of Black Rock Dam, now called North Buffalo, was established. The name of the office was changed to North Buffalo, February 10, 1857. The appointments to that office have been as follows:
Henry A. Bennett, July 12, 1854. Charles Manly, March 17, 1856. George Argus, May 20, 1859. William D. Davis, July 29, 1861. George Argus, (the present incumbent) 1864.The Buffalo Post-office was kept, during Mr. Granger's term of office, first on Main Street, near where the Metropolitan Theater now stands, and afterwards in the brick house on the west side of Pearl Street, a few doors south of Swan Street, now No. 58 Pearl Street. Mr. Guiteau first kept the office on Main Street, opposite Stevenson's livery stable; then on the west side of Main Street about the middle of the block next south of Erie Street; and afterwards on the northwest corner of Ellicott Square. It was kept in the same place for a short period at the commencement of Judge Russel's term of office, but was soon removed to the northwest corner of the next block above, where it remained until after the appointment of Mr. Dibble. It was removed by Mr. Dibble about 1836, to the old Baptist Church then standing on the corner where the post-office is now kept, and it was kept in that building until after Mr....