Sometime around 1978 on a rainy afternoon there was an accident near Scotland Avenue and Cherokee Drive in Charlotte's Eastover neighborhood.
The hit and run driver sideswiped a parked car and then hit a USPS Collection Box head on. The driver then backed up and with tires squealing drove off heading towards Providence Road.
Two young twin brothers named Tim and Tom and a couple of their friends witnessed the accident and the resulting carnage.
The blue USPS collection box lay on the ground broken, with the mail that was once inside scattered across the sidewalk. As the rain poured down they dutifully gathered up all the mail and placed it back in the box, but the damaged door would not close. So they took the box and the mail home and convinced their mother to drive them to the Post Office to turn in the mail and the broken box.
Unfortunately by the time they arrived at the post office the building was closed. So the mail was deposited in the nearby USPS drive by drop box.
As for the collection box they planned to return it to the Post Office the following Monday.
With life sometimes things are forgotten.
The USPS blue box rode in the trunk of the car for a week, then sat on the floor of a garage at Wendover and Providence Roads. At one point the door was repaired by spot welding at Myers Park High School's shop class as a senior project. The box then spent four years on the campus of UNC Chapel Hill at the Sig Ep House, then in an apartment in Charlotte, and then a home off Independence Blvd.
At one point someone pointed out it was a Federal Crime to tamper with or steal a mailbox and so the heavy cast iron box went into hiding, along with a large yellow City of Charlotte traffic signal which was acquired in much the same way.
Another dozen moves, relocations and weddings and subsequent divorces, the collection box had been as far west as Utah and as far north as New Jersey. Then after more than 20 years the box somehow managed it to make its way back to Charlotte.
Danville Stove and Manufacturing Mailboxes
There is a vanishing part of America that many of us have taken for granted. Something that was always there that maybe you didn't even notice it was gone. Sadly like pay telephones, fire call boxes, coin operated newspaper boxes we will add mail collection aka drop boxes.
Back a hundred years ago the US Postmaster for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1906-1914, David C. Owens designed a mailbox as an alternative to the Van Dorn box, which at the time was the recognized standard but it was also considered unsightly by many urban patrons. The boxes which had a Victorian England look seemed out of harmony with electric light posts and a changing America.
Beginning in 1924 and for the next 30 years the US Post Office would order thousands of these new "Owens Style" mailboxes.
The Danville Mfg. Mailbox was cast by the Danville Stove & Mfg. Co. in Danville , PA. These U.S. Post Office cast iron mail boxes carried the familiar Danville Stove beaver logo, and at one time could be found in use coast to coast in our country.
The Danville Manufacturing Company ceased production of U.S. mailboxes in the early 1940's, but the cast iron mail boxes that weigh nearly 60 pounds endured.
Collection Box Colors
Street letter collection boxes have been painted a number of different colors by the Postal Service over the years, but their exact colors for the decades after their introduction in the 1850s is unknown. The earliest known reference to the color of collection boxes is found in The Story of the Post Office (1889), by W.B. Jones, although it is not clear whether the colors applied only to boxes in Boston where he lived or to those in other cities as well:
At one time there were over 800 street letter boxes from which collections are made by the Boston US Post Office and its sub-stations. To people who resided within this postal district it was well known that some of these boxes are painted red and others green. The red boxes were the most important ones, as they were visited every hour by the carriers.
Another reference is found in a report of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General J. L. Bristow, dated October 24, 1903 and mentions a Machen color selection.
Back a hundred years ago the US Postmaster for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1906-1914, David C. Owens designed a mailbox as an alternative to the Van Dorn box, which at the time was the recognized standard but it was also considered unsightly by many urban patrons. The boxes which had a Victorian England look seemed out of harmony with electric light posts and a changing America.
The Van Dorn USPS Box
Beginning in 1924 and for the next 30 years the US Post Office would order thousands of these new "Owens Style" mailboxes.
The Danville Manufacturing Company ceased production of U.S. mailboxes in the early 1940's, but the cast iron mail boxes that weigh nearly 60 pounds endured.
Street letter collection boxes have been painted a number of different colors by the Postal Service over the years, but their exact colors for the decades after their introduction in the 1850s is unknown. The earliest known reference to the color of collection boxes is found in The Story of the Post Office (1889), by W.B. Jones, although it is not clear whether the colors applied only to boxes in Boston where he lived or to those in other cities as well:
At one time there were over 800 street letter boxes from which collections are made by the Boston US Post Office and its sub-stations. To people who resided within this postal district it was well known that some of these boxes are painted red and others green. The red boxes were the most important ones, as they were visited every hour by the carriers.
Another reference is found in a report of Fourth Assistant Postmaster General J. L. Bristow, dated October 24, 1903 and mentions a Machen color selection.
The Machen referred to is A. W. Machen,
General Superintendent of the Free-Delivery System from May 6, 1893, until May 27, 1903.
The color of the paint of the street letter boxes has been changed from time to time according to the taste of the administrative officers of the Department. Years ago it was dark green, afterwards vermilion red . . . In 1897 Machen adopted the aluminum color, and also changed the method of painting . . . posts to be painted green, boxes aluminum bronze.
By at least 1909, collection boxes were painted green. On February 27, 1913, however, Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock ordered that collection boxes be painted “either vermilion or coach-red.” Ten weeks later, on May 10, the order was rescinded by Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson because fire departments, city councils, and the public complained about the confusion with red fire boxes and equipment. The boxes were repainted green.
Green gave way to olive drab after World War I when the War Department gave the Post Office Department a vast supply of surplus olive drab paint. This became the standardized color for collection boxes and remained in use until 1955.
On the Fourth of July in 1955, Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield announced that street collection boxes would be painted red, white, and blue to make them easily identifiable. The new paints also were longer lasting. Specifications for the red, white, and blue color scheme were printed in Postal Bulletin 19867, dated August 9, 1955.
The color of the paint of the street letter boxes has been changed from time to time according to the taste of the administrative officers of the Department. Years ago it was dark green, afterwards vermilion red . . . In 1897 Machen adopted the aluminum color, and also changed the method of painting . . . posts to be painted green, boxes aluminum bronze.
By at least 1909, collection boxes were painted green. On February 27, 1913, however, Postmaster General Frank H. Hitchcock ordered that collection boxes be painted “either vermilion or coach-red.” Ten weeks later, on May 10, the order was rescinded by Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson because fire departments, city councils, and the public complained about the confusion with red fire boxes and equipment. The boxes were repainted green.
Green gave way to olive drab after World War I when the War Department gave the Post Office Department a vast supply of surplus olive drab paint. This became the standardized color for collection boxes and remained in use until 1955.
On the Fourth of July in 1955, Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield announced that street collection boxes would be painted red, white, and blue to make them easily identifiable. The new paints also were longer lasting. Specifications for the red, white, and blue color scheme were printed in Postal Bulletin 19867, dated August 9, 1955.
Standing and Sonic Eagle
When the Post Office Department was reorganized, creating the United States Postal Service in 1971, a solid, deep blue color for collection boxes was announced. Reflective decals with the new Postal Service logo, the “standing” eagle was also adopted as the Postal Service’s official seal.
When the Post Office Department was reorganized, creating the United States Postal Service in 1971, a solid, deep blue color for collection boxes was announced. Reflective decals with the new Postal Service logo, the “standing” eagle was also adopted as the Postal Service’s official seal.
And while this color scheme is still used today, in 1993 the current “sonic” eagle was introduced as the new corporate logo to capture the ethos of a modern era which continues today.
More details about the US Postal Service can be found here.
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