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visit the Brunswick Museum's d isplay. An inventory sheet of 1887 reports "good" postal guides,

scales, postmarking stamp, ink and pads. It shows "00" desks or tables, a "tolerable" case and a "good" mail key. There are records showing the number of stamps sold every day; for March 1895 it shows $115.44 worth of stamps sold. Other inventory records are also in the Museum.

near the railroad tracks. The bags were held so that the railway mail employee would extend a metal arm out and grab the bag from the rack. At the same time he would throw off a mail bag which would tumble about 50 feet. Most rail car employees would then signal by waving that everything was O.K.

Hauling mail made a long day, from the 5 AM startuntil the last mail wentoutat9PMand the post office closed. About 10 trips were made throughout the day between the post office and the two stations (east and west bound). In between trips Stewart would deliver "Special Delivery" mail where he received 25 cents from the post office plus any tip the customer cared to give.

CHANGES During Harry Truman's administration (elected 1948) Jesse Donaldson became Postmaster General, the first career employee to attain that post. There were two deliveries of mail to the home every day except Sunday until this service was terminated in 1950. Another change instituted by the Postal Service was the use of the Zip Code, which went into service July 1, 1963. Railroads provided the bulk of the movement of mail, especially long distance mail, and trucks served locally. Since 1969 railroads have been completely out of the business of transporting mail. That year mail service by train from Washington to Chicago terminated.

W - Wendell Stewart

TELEPHONE SERVICE The Maryland State Gazetteer of 1910-10-11 lists under Brunswick two telephone companies: Chesapeake and Potomac, with Viola Leehan, operator, and Frederick County Telephone Company, with Nellie Harrison listed as operator. In the Brunswick Council minutes of January 4, 1911, a motion was passed for the town to revoke its franchise to the C&P Telephone Company unless a telephone was placed in the Mayor's office within ten days from the date of notice. December 3, 1912 minutes reported the presenceof a Mr. Waters, of C&P, to procure a franchise. He was advised that the Council would notify his company when the matter was to be taken up for consideration. Further research revealed no official conclusion to this confrontation. Since the 1909-10-11 Gazetteer shows two companies in town at that time, one may wonder if split loyalties had anything to do with the decision. Whatever, one must be satisfied to know that telephones came to the Mayor's office early in the second decade of the 20th century. Lavetta Irene Kelley Thomas was 17 years of age when she began as an operator at Brunswick on April 30, 1917. She retired in 1963 after 46 years service. Today (1990) Lavetta lives at Homewood Retirement Home. · Bessie Mohler was the first supervisor at Brunswick's exchange, where Hanna Harrison and Peggy Harrison were operators. Private families were already enjoying the new-fangled communication. Somc,anyway. Somewerenot. Greatgrandmother Mary V. Himes Hogan and her daughter Ella R.

S - Lenwood Moss - Dedication program with the late Nelson Strathern's name on it. - Elizabeth R. Frye - Brunswick Museum

W-MMM

POST OFFICE Wendell Stewart held the contract for hauling mail between the post office and the two rail stations when the post office was on East Potomac Street across from the old YMCA. His work started a little after 5 AM by hauling mail which had been received over night and stored in a room at the West Bound Station. This mail had to be at the post office by 6 AM, when the employees came to work. He hated it when he opened the mail room door at the station and found mail bags filled with Scars Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs. Throughout the day mail was dispatched from the post office and put on both cast and west bound trains. Mail for trains that did not stop in Brunswick was placed in a special mail bag with rings on each end. These rings were attached to a special rack

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