R.F.D. — Some may not recognize this as the abbreviation for Rural Free Delivery which has resulted in the delivery of mail directly to rural farm families all across America.  This is a service which was began in the 19th century to deliver mail directly to rural farm families.

Prior to RFD, individuals living on remote homesteads and farms had to pick up their mail themselves at sometimes distant post offices or pay private carriers for delivery.  It quickly became a political football with the politicians promising it to voters and using it themselves to reach eligible electors.

The proposal to offer free rural delivery was not universally embraced.  Private carriers and local merchants feared a loss of business.  Many merchants worried the service would reduce farm families’ weekly visits to town to obtain goods and merchandise.  They also feared that mail order merchants selling to rural families through catalogs, such as Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company would present significant competition.  However, strong support for the introduction of a nationwide rural delivery service came from The National Grange, the nation’s oldest and largest agricultural organization.

Do you remember in the fall when the mailman would deliver those thick and precious Christmas catalogs into the mailbox in front of your farm?  The anticipation was unbearable for a small child who waited impatiently for that day!  They soon became the most dog-eared books in the house as children of all ages became dreamers.

The first post office in Gregory County was established at Fort Randall on September 29, 1860 before the county system was extended to this area.  Although Fort Randall became an abandoned military post on November 9, 1892, the post office continued to operate because of the many homesteaders in the area.  This was one of the oldest post offices in the state and was discontinued on April 15, 1907.  Rural deliveries were then established from Gross, Nebraska.

In August of 1894 a daily mail service was started between Fairfax, S.D. and Stuart, N.E., forty miles to the south.  The contractors Hart and Doyle had put on the route a fine line of four-horse Concord coaches which left Stuart at 9 A.M. and arrived in Fairfax by 6 P.M.  Residents of the community and area had to go to a local business to pick up their mail.

R.F.D. used a network of rural routes by carriers to deliver and pick up mail to and from roadside mailboxes in front or nearby to the rural homes.  The first rural route to be established in South Dakota was at Ellis on May 1, 1899.  RFD was established in Dell Rapids on October 2, 1899.  On June 11, 1900, Spearfish was the first established post office west of the Missouri to have RFD.

In August of 1903, Albert Gauck who carried the U. S. mail between Fort Randall and Fairfax was bitten by a huge rattlesnake.  Being many miles from the nearest doctor, he took out his pocket knife and cut out a chunk of flesh where the deadly fangs entered his body.  He was able to continue on and performed his duties without interruption.

The Rosebud Review, a Supplement to The Gregory County News of Dallas on May 8, 1913, reported: “Gregory is the only city of its size in the state having city delivery.  Two deliveries a day are made in the business and two in the residence section.  This means it was one of the cities selected by the government, one in each state, to try house delivery in cities of less than 2,500 population.  It appears to be working well, and immense quantities of mail are delivered daily.  Four rural deliveries carry farmers’ mail daily.”

There were fifteen rural routes in Gregory County in 1912.  These routes originated from eight communities in the county.  They were: Gregory, 4; Burke, 3; Dallas, 2; Fairfax, 2; Bonesteel, 1; Carlock, 1; Dixon, 1; and Herrick, 1. Everyone living in the Iona and Hammill area had to go to that community and pick up their mail.

By 1922 there were twenty-one rural routes in Gregory County.  These routes emanating from nine communities.  They were: Dallas, 4; Gregory, 4; Burke, 3; Herrick, 3; Bonesteel, 2; Fairfax, 2; Carlock, 1; Dixon, 1; and Lucas, 1. That same year Hamill had 2 rural routes.  Folks in the Iona area still had to go into town and pick up their mail.

In 1943, Gregory County had 616 families that picked up their mail each day at the local postoffice.  As there was no city letter-carrier service, they rented a post-office box at the local office.  There were 1,499 families who had boxes on the rural routes from eight different communities.  They were: Dallas, 323; Gregory, 299, Burke, 224; Herrick, 210; Bonesteel, 172; Fairfax, 113; Lucas, 87; and Dixon, 71.  Iona had 5 families who picked up their mail in town and 60 homes who were on a rural route.  Hamill had 12 households that got their mail at the postoffice and 114 families lived on a rural route.

By 1953, 695 Gregory County families rented a post-office box and picked up their mail at the local Post Office. That year there were 1,309 farm families who had their mail delivered to a rural box from eight communities.  They were: Dallas, 278; Gregory, 261; Burke, 171; Bonesteel, 149; Herrick, 165; Fairfax, 114; Lucas, 70; Dixon, 63; and Saint Charles, 38.  At Iona, 10 got their mail in town and 35 had their mail delivered to a rural box.  Eleven families picked up their mail in Hamill and 98 folks lived on a rural route.

Throughout the years the United States Post Office has made many changes and improvements.  With the exploration of outer space and Apollo Eleven, the first postage stamp was cancelled on the moon in 1969!

 

Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory-Times Advocate on July 17, 2019