MARY'S GENEALOGY TREASURES
Prior to May 8, 1884, mail delivery to the hamlet of Lethbridge
was haphazard. Mail was sorted and picked up from the
coal company's office. On May 8, 1884, Elliott Galt submitted
a petition praying for the establishment of postal facilities at
the Lethbridge Colliery. The Postmaster General instructed
Postal Inspector, W. W. Mcleod of Winnipeg, to establish
a mail service from Medicine Hat to Fort Macleod via Lethbridge.
By June 1, 1884, tri weekly stage and mail service was in
operation.
The narrow gauge railway line to Dunmore was built in 1885.
McLeod proposed that mail for Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek
and New Oxley (Claresholm) be sent by it to Lethbridge and
then west by stagecoach.
On October 14, 1885, the government authorized the
establishment of a Post Office under the name of
Coalhurst at Lethbridge with Mr. H. F. Greenwood as
Postmaster. The name Coalhurst was later dropped and
it became the Lethbridge Post Office. Thanks to C.A.
Magrath, then Member of parliament, the government
agreed to build a post office building. The west and
north elevations of the new edifice were expensively
faced with stone cut from quarries at Tyndale, Manitoba.
Completed late in 1914, the building provided space for
post office, customs and other federal services. In
1916 the goverrument installed a clock in the tower.
The elaborate structure, grandiose in design, became
a prominent landmark and source of pride to Lethbridgians.
Although home delivery came to city residents, and some
rural districts did establish rural route delivery, the
residents of rural southeast Lethbridge continued to
use the Lethbridge Post Office to post and pick up
their mail, either by General Delivery wicket or by box.
My dad had Box 181 for as long as I can remember,
at a cost of $2.00 a year. When Dad and I became
partners it was in the name of Snowden & Son and
the cost had increased to $7.00 a year. (City residents
had their mail delivered to their homes at no cost,
while country residents paid a fee for the privilege of
picking up their mail at the post office.) When dad and
mother moved into the city, Box 181 remained in my
name at no charge for the last number of years. However,
as of Dec. 1, 1992, I had the option of retaining Box 181
at a cost, or receiving my mail at the Rural Delivery Box
for free. I chose the latter.
Lethbridge Daily Herald, 1920
In the matter of postal facilities in the rural district, it is
clearly a case of it being up to the farmers and other
residents in the district to come forward and cooperate
in a scheme which will be of benefit to them. This is
shown by the tenders asked for in regard to mail delivery
in rural routes one, two, three, and four out of Lethbridge.
In the case of routes one and four there have been no
tenders submitted for the contracts, and in routes two
and three the bids made are considered too high by the
postal authorities.
The contracts called for are for four days in the week,
which no doubt affected the replies. The altering of the
deliveries of mail to three days a week instead of four
days will possibly make a difference, in that two routes
can be taken up by the same party, meaning six days
regular work in the week instead of cutting up the week
into four days. This will be a better paying arrangement
than the proposed one.
There is not a doubt that the postal authorities will be willing
to consider the three days a week in regard to all of the
routes, if by this means contracts can be obtained. This
matter should be considered by farmers or others who are
in a position to give the service, and they should see the
postmaster at the Lethbridge post office in regard to the
same.
No. 1 route is for the Kipp district, west of Lethbridge;
No. 2 route for the Wilson Side district, southeast of the
city; No. 3 route covers the district east of Diamond City,
northeast of Lethbridge; No. 4 route is for the district
east-from Coaldale.
Miscellaneous Histories