Benjamin Franklin was appointed first Postmaster General by the Continental Congress in 1775 and only 26 years later, in 1801, a U.S. Post Office opened in the budding town of Boonsboro. Patrick Conn, proprietor of the Eagle Hotel (now, Inn BoonsBoro), became our first postmaster. At that time, postage rates were based on the number of sheets in the letter and the distance a letter traveled, ranging from 8 cents/sheet sent 40 miles or fewer to 25 cents/sheet delivered more than 500 miles. The receiver often paid these fees. Adhesive postage stamps were first issued by the U.S. government post office July 1, 1847, in the denominations of five and ten cents. By 1855, the use of stamps was mandatory.
The town post office was located at 3 S. Main Street in 1915 – the sign hangs over the door in the center of this photo. The office of the Boonsboro Times newspaper is at the far left in the same building. Galor’s Meat Market is in the white building. Photo by C. D. Young; courtesy of the Boonsborough Museum of History.
