THE POST OFFICES OF FAIRFAX, VERMONT

[Henry]

Hi All,

Today, as you drive in the our Mall on top of the Hill, to our local post office, have you ever wondered what our post offices may have looked like in the years gone by, or maybe even where they might be located??

The majority of the information below was taken from our Historical Book, "Fairfax, Its Creation And Development," published in 1976.

Many years ago, a man by the name of Trescott was the first to bring mail to Fairfax.  He came on horseback, carrying the "post" in a saddlebag, riding on a route from Danville to St. Albans, and functioning as a sort of "traveling post office" by delivering the mail to each inhabitant as he went along.  He also carried a newspaper, the "North Star," published in Danville.  He was followed as a mail carrier by his son, Solon Trescott.  Both Trescotts had a tin horn which they blew as they approached the settlement to tell the inhabitants they were coming.

By 1803, the population of Fairfax was about 800 and a regular post office was established.  The Fairfax post office became a distributing office and had a daily mail run to and from Georgia Depot.  The building from which the office operated was located just South of the present Foothills Bakery.  The vacant lot is now used as a parking lot for the bakery.  Hampton Lovegrove was the first postmaster.

The original post office, I believe is the post office shown in an early post card of the East Side of Fairfax Hollow, the center of town:


It is the third building from the left and in later years became part of Parsons Store as shown below in a 1960s photo of Parsons ABC Store:


The above photo was sent to me in a zerox copy by John Wriston of Newark, Delaware - Hopefully I can get an actual scanned digital photo.
Another photo with the sign Post Office was found on another old post card.  The photo of the building, shown below in the right of the photo, was originally located on the corner of Main Street and The Fletcher Road.  The building was torn down in the 1960s by Chan Cooley who used the material to build his house on The Fletcher Road:

Early records show that Carlos (Carl) Gillette was one of our early postmasters also.  He was born in 1852 and died in 1927, however, I have no other clue as to just when the above photo was taken.  We do have a Ledger of Registered Letters at the Fairfax Historical Society that shows Carlos Gillette as being the Postmaster in 1908.  In later years, I have been told by some of our older residents that this was and Ice Cream Parlor.
Although it is not known just when, The Vermont Historical Society identified the old Rich Place which is presently next to the Fairfax Historical Society as a former Fairfax Post Office also:


On August 26, 1898 The Post Office which was located in Ira E. Hunt’s store was destroyed in the fire, but all the mail matter and office furnishings were saved.  Ira Hunt's Store was located where The Vermont Food Ventures Building on the corner of Main & Maple is now:



The central office served the village fairly well, but there were problems in getting the mail to some of the outlying settlements in the town.  Eventually several special offices supplied out of the main office in the village were founded.

In 1837 an office was established in North Fairfax and continued operating there until 1901.  The office was in the house occupied by Mildred McGowan for many, many years and is located next to Adams Quick Stop.

In 1850, a third office was opened in Buck Hollow to serve 135 residents;  this office was also closed in 1901.  This is the one post office that I have had difficulty in pin pointing the location.  I checked with Mike Cain to see if he had any information his mother Gene might have written down, but he had none.  I then talked with Imogene Collins who is a native of Enosburg Falls and Fairfield who has lived in The Hollow for a number of years.  She told me that when they moved here that a neighbor, Mr. McMahon had told her that there was a store and post office across from where John & Betty Collins now live on the Collins Family Farm.  She did emphasize however, that she wasn't sure of the accuracy of Mr. McMahon's information.  I then stopped by and talked with Doug Webb who has lived in The Hollow probably longer than anyone else and although he wasn't sure, he told me that he thought it was located at the intersection of Buck Hollow and Rood Mill Road, just South of the intersection.  He did remember an old building being there.  I had originally heard from someone else that perhaps that was the location, but can't remember just who told me.  Nevertheless, for the time being, I took a photo at that location.  In the photo below, just in front of the hay wagon, there appears to be a cellar hole, so there definitely was a building there at one time, whether it was the store and post office, I can't say for sure:

In 1892, the Beaver Post Office opened and operated until 1902 under Gardner G. Orton.  The rack with the 42 pigeon holes for mail has been found in the McNall farm house on Route 104 where it is believed Orton lived and is shown below at its present location in The Fairfax Historical Society Museum.


In July, 1893 an office was established in Huntville and stayed in operation until September, 1901.  Like the Beaver office, this office too had only one postmaster during its existence, George Hunt.  It is supposed to have been in the house now occupied by Almon & Dot Woodward, and the mail is said to have been handed out the window of what is now their bathroom located on the back side of the house shown below.

Evidently these subordinate offices were closed when rural delivery routes were established.  On October 1, 1901, Rural Route 1 was founded, stretching from Fairfax to Huntville, Buck Hollow and Beaver, a total distance of 23 miles.  Route 2, also 23 miles, was established on September 15, 1903, as was Route 3, which ran 24 miles.  Route 3 was discontinued on November 14, 1944.

Some well-known local names are found listed as Postmasters at the various offices including:  William Buck, C. A. Powell, Elias Bellus, Abner Buck, William H. Rood, Harry Rugg, Ira E. Hunt, Carl Gillette and Glen Parris.  F. Clifford (Clip) Stewart was postmaster from 1922-1934.  Irma Mitchell from 1934-1970 and Chandler Cooley became postmaster in 1970.  I don't have the names or terms of those postmasters since Chan Cooley left.

The post office moved just up the street, although I don't know which year to an area that is now just a vacant lot.  It was just the other side of the Mill Brook, between the Koch House and Mill Brook.  No one seems to remember just when it was torn down, but Larry Parsons told me that when he went in the Service, the building was standing, but when he came back, the building was gone.  A special thanks to Bev Taylor for the following photo:

According to my records, W. D. Stewart was born in 1849 and died in 1924, Arthur Mudgett was born in 1880, so the only information I have on the above photo other than the identification would indicate it was taken before 1924 when W. D. Stewart died.
Now the post office has moved at least four times since it was located in the above photo.  I don't have an actual photo of the post office at the following location, but have seen one.  Prior to 1956, when Andy Rocheleau moved to his barbershop to town, the post office was located where you see the barber pole in the photo below:


The above photo was sent to me in a zerox copy by John Wriston of Newark, Delaware - Hopefully I can get an actual scanned digital photo.

The above photo was sent to me in a zerox copy by John Wriston of Newark, Delaware - Hopefully I can get an actual scanned digital photo.
The front is now located in The Fairfax Historical Society Museum and is show below:

It then moved to what is now Vermont Food Ventures and can be seen on the right, next to what was then Thibault's Store as shown below:


The above photo was sent to me in a zerox copy by John Wriston of Newark, Delaware - Hopefully I can get an actual scanned digital photo.
The last place in the village it was located is where the present Foothills Bakery is located:

The above photo which is courtesy of our present Fairfax Post Office in the Mall was taken on October 20, 1997.  The sign in the window says for rent and I believe the post office was in the process of moving before being purchased by The Foothills Bakery