Show I First First Railroad d Post Office Carried Mail to Soldiers 80 O Y pm A On Tf years ago the first permanent permanent perma- perma I nent railroad post office was established established 1 to speed up mail for soldiers I On August 28 1864 George B. B Armstrong Armstrong Armstrong Arm- Arm i strong then assistant postmaster of I Chicago sent his first railway post postoffice I office on its way over the Chicago and North Western railway from Chicago to Clinton Iowa Within a afew afew few ew years the new system of expediting expediting expediting ex- ex the mails spread to include the principal trunk lines of the na na- na- na lion tion Practically every nation in the 1 world adopted the idea eventually Armstrong instituted the service with approval of the postmaster general as a means of facilitating distribution of mail particularly to tomen tomen tomen men in the army From the first Armstrong envisioned a national system and lived to see his plan become a success despite public doubts and ridicule when he first announced his plan On the first trip 80 years ago prominent Chicago newspapermen I I p J JI b bankers and civic leaders went along to witness the initial opera opera- tion One banker refused to be convinced convinced con con- vinced of the plans plan's practicability remarking that all the mail would blow blowout out of the car Although Armstrong is generally credited with the first permanent railway post office others preceded him by a few ew years with similar plans All however were devised to meet local emergencies and no plan operated more than a year I |