Rural Free Delivery

Rural Free Delivery is a Pennsylvania historical marker in Westmoreland County, dedicated 2001.

135 W Pennsylvania Ave.

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On November 24, 1896, the U.S. Post Office Department established Pennsylvania's first two rural mail routes here in Westmoreland County. One operated from the post office here in New Stanton; the other operated out of nearby Ruffsdale (later spelled "Ruffs Dale"). The nation's first five rural carriers had started out the month before on routes in West Virginia, and by 1905 the U.S. had 32,000 routes. They proved instrumental in breaking down rural isolation.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection

Historical maps covering this location

1872 · Westmoreland, Fayette counties. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1884 · Industries Of Western Pennsylvania (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1889 · Pennsylvania (western portion). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1902 · Connellsville, Pennsylvania (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1903 · Pennsylvania. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Industries Of Western Pennsylvania, 1884, covering the location of Rural Free Delivery, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Industries Of Western Pennsylvania, 1884, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

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Marker data: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission via data.pa.gov

Rural Free Delivery

Historical maps covering this location

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