{"id":9180,"date":"2020-09-04T11:14:47","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T17:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/?p=9180"},"modified":"2020-09-04T11:14:47","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T17:14:47","slug":"rural-routes-in-porter-county-indiana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casbon.one-name.blog\/wp\/rural-routes-in-porter-county-indiana\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural Routes in Porter County, Indiana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever seen a postcard or letter addressed like this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Postcard from Kate (Marquart) Casbon to her younger sister Mary Jane “Dot” (Marquart) Dye, May 1913; the postcard mentions Kate\u2019s three sons, Leslie, Lynnet, and Loring, and two of Kate and Mary Jane\u2019s brothers, George and Ed; author\u2019s collection (Click on image to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The address is written as \u201cHebron R.3. Ind.,\u201d meaning Hebron (Indiana) rural route 3. The abbreviations \u201cR.R.\u201d for Rural Route and \u201cR.F.D.\u201d for Rural Free Delivery will be familiar to many. I\u2019m sure that many of my Casbon relatives grew up on rural routes. I was familiar with the abbreviations but didn\u2019t really have a clear concept of what they stood for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I dug deeper, I learned that rural routes have an interesting history. Up until 1896, free home delivery of the mail was limited to cities. Farmers and others who lived in the country and even people who lived in towns had to go to the nearest post office to pick up their mail. There were many subsidiary, or \u201cfourth-class\u201d post offices, located in towns or more remote outposts. These usually were part of an existing business establishment such as a general store or sometimes even a private home.[1]<\/sup><\/a> Rural Free Delivery was started on an experimental basis in 1896, with routes determined by postal inspectors. \u201cA number of factors went into an inspector\u2019s decision, such as creating routes so that carriers did not end up using the same road twice in the same day, each route had to reach at least 100 families, and the roads had to be passible throughout the year.\u201d[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rural Free Delivery was instituted throughout the United States by law in 1902. Routes were developed and \u201ccountry people\u201d began to receive their mail in mailboxes located along the routes. Many of the fourth-class post offices were no longer needed and closed down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Porter County, Indiana, numbered Rural Routes originated at the post offices in Chesterton (four routes), Hebron (four routes), Valparaiso (eight routes), and Kouts (two routes). These routes provided effective coverage of the entire county. Mailing addresses simply listed the post office, route number, and state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I said, I did not have a clear understanding of what these routes looked like. I thought they might refer to specific roads, or perhaps districts. In fact, they were circuitous pathways that sometimes looped or doubled back. They look more like urban bus routes to me than anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was lucky to find a map of Porter County routes in 1911.[3]<\/sup><\/a> A portion of the map is shown below. I have color-coded certain routes where various Casbon relatives lived at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201dMap of Porter County, Indiana showing rural delivery service\u201d (1911), with certain routes drawn over and color-coded (Click on image to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here are the Casbon relatives who lived on these routes in 1911:[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n