Yard and Garden Review

Letterboxes and mail slots were first used in Paris, France in the late 1700s.  They became more popular in Europe in the middle-late 1800s when the British Post Office decided to begin mail delivery and asked people to install letterboxes.  Previously, all mail was picked up at the local post office. 

In 1863, the U.S. Postal Service began the Free City Delivery.  Mailmen delivered mail to each door waiting for a patron to answer the knock.  This method of mail delivery took extra time and patrons were not always home or able to answer the door.   Patrons began to install mail slots and letterboxes at their doors. 

The Rural Free Delivery (RFD) was introduced by the U.S. Postal service in 1896.   The Postal Service researched ways to save time and solve the problem with mail-carriers delivering mail to the scattered rural patrons.  They proposed that mailboxes be placed at curbsides and roadways.   In 1923, the Post Office mandated that every household have a mailbox to receive mail rather than a tin, basket or wooden box.    Soon after, mailboxes sported a signal flag.  At first the flag was used to signal both incoming and outgoing mail. 

In 1915, Roy J. Joroleman, a Postal employee invented the curved, tunnel-shaped mailbox that we are familiar with today.  The shaped was designed to prevent water and snow from collecting in the mailbox.   This design has been the top-selling type of mailbox since the Postmaster General released the design for manufacture and production.  

 Since that time, the U.S. Postal Service has retained the authority to approve specifications for size and characteristics of all curbside mailboxes.   Approved mailboxes are always stamped with “U.S. MAIL”  and “APPROVED BY THE POSTMASTER GENERAL”.