Chambers Stamp Factory

Two miles northeast, at Lodge, stood the Chambers Stamp Factory, owned by the same family for four generations. Founded in Washington, D.C., about 1830 by Benjamin Chambers, Sr., an engraver and inventor of a breech-loading cannon, the company specialized in postmark and cancellation stamps. From 1867 to 1931 the company was the sole supplier for the U.S. Post Office Department. Benjamin Chambers, Jr., moved the factory to Lodge in 1877. After his death in 1908, his son Henry B. Chambers, Sr., assumed direction of the company until he died in 1927. Henry B. Chambers, Jr., succeeded him. In July 1931 the postal department awarded the contract to Pitney Bowes and the Chambers Stamp Company closed the next year.