Name/Title
Post OfficeEntry/Object ID
2019.23.1949.736aDescription
Post Office Christmas rush: Image from the Herald Times Reporter negative
collection, taken on December 17, 1949 and printed in the newspaper on December 19, 1949, page 1.
In 1949, the US Post Office experienced massive Christmas rushes, with millions of cards and parcels flooding centers daily, prompting campaigns like "Post Early" to manage the deluge, while new regulations enforced a 2-cent stamp for smaller, odd-sized Christmas cards, and workers—even on Christmas Day—toiled to keep mail moving, showcasing a post-war boom in holiday mail volume
The Manitowoc Post Office, located on the southwest corner of S. 9th and Franklin Streets, was a bustling place. The Post Office was an impressive two-story building in downtown Manitowoc. It was built in 1911 with a one story parcel post addition in 1925. The building was demolished after the post office moved to its present location at S. 12th and Franklin Streets in 1966. The corner site is now a municipal parking lot next to the Public Safety Building. Previous post offices were located at 112 South Eighth Street (1880) and 1 North Eighth Street (1894-1910).
The newspaper caption reads: “The peak of holiday mailing is on at the post office. Rows of Christmas package laden mailers line up at the three receiving windows, in what may be Manitowoc’s heaviest holiday mailing in years.”