Historic Wayside (Unionville PO)
Celebrating The Birth of Rural Free Delivery At A Unionville/Uvilla Landmark
Gallery
About Historic Wayside PO
Built in 1850, the frame house at the corner of French Road and Shepherdstown Pike once served as a store and, significantly, as the post office for Uvilla, once known as Unionville. The establishment of the U.S. Postal Service, with Benjamin Franklin as the first Postmaster General, predates the existence of the United States by one year. By the end of the 19th century, however, the system that had been formed to serve the original colonies was woefully inadequate in the sense that the vast majority of Americans - who lived in rural areas - had no direct access to it; they either had to travel as much as a day to visit existing post offices, or pay private carriers to deliver and serve their mail. To solve the problems resulting from such isolation in these pre-telephone days, and in the face of fierce opposition from parties with vested interests in keeping things the way they were, Congress in 1893 mandated the practice of "rural free delivery (RFD)." The Postmaster General at the time, Wilson S. Bissell, who argued the cost of such a system was prohibitive, and favored the establishment of more post offices in lieu of RFD to solve the problem, did not pursue the experiment. Thus it was not until 1896, with the newly sworn Postmaster General (and Charles Town resident) William L. Wilson, that RFD was pursued, and here is where the State of West Virginia - in particular Jefferson County - became a pioneer. With a modest sum appropriated by Congress Postmaster General Wilson established five RFD routes, three in Charles Town, and one each in Halltown and Uvilla, which began operations on October 1st of that year. In the admiring words of retired Charles Town Postmaster Thomas "Buddy" Owens, Jr., spoken 100 years after the fact to the publication Postal Life, on that day: "Harry Gibson, Frank Young and John Lucas left Charles Town on horseback, Keyes Strider left on horseback from Halltown Post Office, and his cousin Melvin Strider delivered mail from the Uvilla (Uniontown) Post Office. Melvin Strider was only 15 years old. He couldn't even collect a paycheck until he turned 16, and he rode his bicycle. Mind you, these routes were all around 20 miles long." (source: www.appalachianhistory.net)
As we know, RFD caught on big and quickly, with petitions pouring into the Postal Department for the establishment of new routes across the Country. In 1902, RFD became a permanent postal service, and the rest, as they say, is history. You can read more about the history of Rural Free Delivery at the website of the National Postal Museum, among other sources.
As we know, RFD caught on big and quickly, with petitions pouring into the Postal Department for the establishment of new routes across the Country. In 1902, RFD became a permanent postal service, and the rest, as they say, is history. You can read more about the history of Rural Free Delivery at the website of the National Postal Museum, among other sources.
Melvin T. Strider is sixth from the left in this photo.
A Destructive Storm Fells An Ancient Silver Maple At Wayside
In July, 2014, a sudden thunderstorm uprooted this massive Silver Maple; the trunk is shown here just a few days later.
