Independence Postal Service

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. Before there was anything official about getting a letter in Independence, Texas, mail ran on neighborly goodwill. Until 1840, if you wanted word from the outside world, you pooled your money with your neighbors, found yourself a willing young man, put him on a horse, and sent him riding all the way to Houston and back.

No government contract. No guarantee. Just a hat passed around and a horse pointed down the road.

Then 1840 arrived and brought two stage routes with it, giving the community weekly service. Things were getting more civilized. By 1843, postal service was officially authorized, and Moses Johnson was appointed the first postmaster of Independence.

That's a name worth remembering. Now, if you think the Civil War slowed the mail down, well, it did complicate things considerably. With supply lines stretched and materials scarce, ten-cent stamps had to be made right there on the spot, stamped out using a wood postmark, the die carved by a man named John McKnight.

Think about that craftsmanship for a moment. A man with a blade and a block of wood, keeping the postal system alive through sheer ingenuity. Over the full span of its operation, one hundred and fifteen years, Independence saw twenty-one postmasters come and go through that post office.

Twenty-one people who sorted the letters, handed over the parcels, knew everybody's business in the most respectable way possible. The last of them was Kathryn Schwarze, and she was the one holding the post when the service was discontinued on January 31st, 1958. After a hundred and fifteen years, the mail stopped moving out of Independence.

But the story didn't end there. That post office became a museum mailing station. The marker's still standing, and the memory of that young man on horseback riding to Houston is still very much in the air.

What the marker says

Until 1840, mail was carried by private conveyance--neighbors paying expenses of young man to travel by horse to Houston and bring mail for all; 1840 brought two stage routes giving weekly service. Postal service authorized in 1843; Moses Johnson appointed first Independence postmaster. During Civil War 10 (cent) stamps made by stamping with wood postmark; die carved by John McKnight. During 115 years of operation 21 postmasters served; Kathryn Schwarze being the last when service discontinued, Jan. 31, 1958. Now museum mailing station.