100 Years of Delivering Mail in Belleville

Travis Shalla, Letter Carrier Supervisor at Canada Post's Belleville Operations, approached the Historical Society and Community Archives last year about their celebration for the 100th anniversary of mail delivery service in Belleville.  Travis began collecting historical information from the letter carriers (active and retired), and the Archive Angels researched the collections at the Community Archives for information about the post office and postal service in Belleville.

The results of that work became apparent last week.  Travis give a short presentation at the Historical Society's meeting on May 21, describing the history of letter carriers in Belleville.  Some of the images he featured are in the Archives collections, including the photograph below of the posties assembled on the steps of the old post office at the corner of Pinnacle and Bridge Streets at 11 am on May 24, 1913 - just before the very first delivery mail in Belleville.

But the highlight of the week was the celebration at the Belleville Operations building on on the actual 100th anniversary date of May 24, 2013, with the unveiling of the cancellation stamp, pictured right, that will be used in Belleville from that afternoon until the end of the year.

The image of the old post office used on the cancellation stamp is based on a silk screen print, pictured left, that is part of the Mika collection in the Community Archives.








At the May 24th celebration, the Historical Society and the Community Archives were presented with one of the commemorative numbered prints showing a view of the old post office with the anniversary cancellation stamp.  Print #2, shown below, will be preserved at the Community Archives for future generations.

Story Nick White / Sharon White. Picture of Travis Shalla, Nick White, other images from Community Archives.