Mason County Rural Letter Carriers Association (2024)

Mason County Historical Society receives offers of donations of archrival materials from throughout the country. If those materials meet the standards set by the MCHS collections committee, they are added to the Society archives that now contain well over 100,000 items.

One of those donations, a small briefcase filled with meeting materials related to the Rural Letter Carriers Association of Mason County, was made by Joan Schwass the wife of the late Theodore “Ted” Schwass (1934-2020) who was a long serving rural letter carrier. This article is based primarily on that collection.

Rural Free Delivery

The earliest mail service in Mason County was a weekly delivery of mail from Grand Haven. This early letter carrier traveled along the beach crossing rivers by swimming along with his horses; there were no bridges across any streams at that time. Sometimes the carrier delivered the mail to what is believed to be the earliest “post office”, a hollowed out tree near what today is the Buttersville peninsula.

In the 1800’s as transportation methods (marine, rail and horse and wagon) improved numerous official U. S. Post Offices were established throughout the County not only in the larger population centers like Ludington, Scottville, Custer and Free Soil but also at crossroads like Wesley in Summit Township, Weldon Creek in Eden Township, Tallman in Branch Township and many others now long forgotten.

Residents were required to go to the nearest post office themselves or hire someone to deliver and retrieve their mail. This soon became a major inconvenience for rural residents. Farmers throughout the country, often represented by organizations like the Grange, advocated for a system of “free” mail delivery. Under this system all mail patrons would still pay to mail letters through the use of stamps, but letters and parcels would be delivered by the postal system to individual homes. This system, referred to as Rural Free Delivery, was adopted nationwide in 1902.

Rural Letter Carriers

The men, at first using their own horses, to deliver mail to rural residents were called rural letter carriers. Over the next decades automobiles replaced horses and women joined men working as mail carriers.

In 1903 the rural letter carriers working out of the Ludington Post Office were G. M. Chase, L. E. Andrew, John Bellville and Jacob Frye. By 1932 the County wide total of regular and substitute rural letter carriers was 21 with 6 working at Ludington, 4 at Branch, 2 at Custer, 3 at Free Soil, 2 at Fountain, 1 at Walhalla and 3 at Scottville.

On July 8, 1908 the Ludington Chronicle reported that W. A. Robinson had taken delivery of a new Ford runabout that he planned to use to “deliver mail from Scottville R. F. D. No. 4 by auto.” Robinson became the first rural carrier in the county to utilize an auto for mail delivery.

The Association

The National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (RLCA) was founded in 1903 to serve as labor union for the rapidly growing number of rural letter carriers. Soon smaller regional — county or district — affiliate groups were formed throughout the United States.

The Schwass donation also includes two small books that contain handwritten minutes of meetings of the RLCA of Mason County from 1904 to 1945. The first meeting of this organization was held September 10, 1904 at Ludington City Hall. The following officers were elected: President G. W. Chase, Vice-president G. W. Mallison, Secretary Jacob Frye and treasurer L. E. Andrews.

The Association would later meet at the Council Chambers in Scottville, the Ludington Post Office, Victory Park, Ludington Waterfront Park and the homes of nearly every member. Meetings eventually became increasingly social in nature with minutes referencing the various food served. Members who had originally been referred to as “Brothers” in the minutes began to be referenced as “The Boys”.

In 1927 a Ladies Auxiliary of the RLCA was formed with Ida Wolf as President, Kate Arthur as Vice-president and Maude Quinn servings as Secretary-Treasurer. Later when women began working as letter carriers they became members of the RLCA and were referred to as “Sisters”.

The RLCA of Mason County hosted two RLCA State Conventions; one held in 1927, the second in 1936. Over 400 rural carriers were expected to be in attendance. Some of the convention sessions of the group were held at Gray Hall, the northern two-story portion of what is now Ludington Area Center for the Arts. The President of the Michigan RLCA was given a key to the City and the visitors declared Ludington a “Delightful City”

Advocacy

Much of what is today considered a normal part of the rural mail delivery system was the result of advocacy of the RLCA of Mason County. The “Boys” of RLCA suggested regulations mandating the width of autos standard tread be the same as that of a sleigh; that patrons should clear away the snow drifts so that carriers can reach boxes, that mail boxes be numbered and that mail boxes be on the right side of the road as the carrier traveled.

Recently members of the RLCA have been actively involved in food drives and other charitable works continuing to follow their motto of “Service With a Smile”.