Post Office Reports of Site Locations - Ada
Before 1837, the U.S. Post Office Department had no official mapmaker and purchased its maps from commercial firms or private individuals. On March 13, 1837, Henry A. Burr was appointed the first Topographer of the Post Office, and he began preparing maps for postal officials' use.
The reports of site locations provided data that the Topographer used in preparing these maps. They were also an important part of the process for establishing a new post office and for reporting changes in a post office's name or location.
The Appointment Division of the First Assistant Postmaster General's Office usually sent a site location report form to the postmaster nearest to a proposed post office. The postmaster would complete and return the form, and the Topographer would then use the information to determine the location of the proposed post office in relation to other nearby post offices, transportation routes, and facilities.
Although Post Office site location reports changed in format over the years, most requested the following information about a post office:
- County and State (or Territory);
- Land description used by the Federal survey system (range, township, and section), if applicable;
- Mail route number and distance to the nearest mail route; and
Closest rivers, creeks, canals, roads, and railroads.
The reports do not typically provide the exact locations of post offices (except for some in the 1940s, which provide street addresses), nor do they include information about the buildings in which post offices were housed or operated.
However, most reports include a diagram or sketch map compiled by the postmaster or a printed map that the postmaster annotated to show the approximate location of the post office.
Some reports also provide the name of the contractor for the mail route and the number of families or people who would be served by the post office.
The reports are copied from microfilm and many of them are blurred. The following relate only to Ada (sometimes called Adaburgh):
1886:
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