1904 Rural Route Directory for Lynn, Indiana

Thomas Keesling

his Rural Route Directory Out of Lynn, Ind. is another of the interesting local history items that Dad had

Indiana, and I grew up in Lynn. Dad managed to pick up quite a few postal history type items, often at local estate sales during the 1950s and 1960s. Rural routes were a relatively new phenomenon when this directory was published. The first routes in Randolph County were organized in 1900 according to Willard Heiss The Early Development of Mail Service in Randolph County.1 According to Heiss, the March 28, 1900 edition of the Winchester Journal announced the new service, saying it would begin the following day from the Winchester Post Office for Route No. 1. Routes 2 through 5 were to begin operation as of May 1, 1900, according to the April 18 edition of the Journal. This was four years after the nations Rural Free Delivery system was initiated by the Post Office Department. Apparently, routes were approved on the basis of the road conditions. In other words, where the roads were deemed good enough for regular travel, routes were established. As more roads in the county were improved, additional routes were approved by the Post Office Department.

accumulated. Dad was James Keesling. He was a lifetime resident of Randolph County,

The Rural Route Directory cover is badly worn and covered with pencil marks.

This directory was published in 1904 by Herald Print which also published the Lynn Herald newspaper. The directorys size is 4 x 7

the inside and back covers contain advertisements. The Explanatory page briefly describes the rationale for both the rural route system and the directory itself. The directory, as explained by the publisher, was intended to put a few dollars in our own pocket which we trust were justly earned. Since there is no price marked on the directory, the profit probably came from the advertising. Each of the four rural route descriptions includes a page with a portrait of the carrier

The elder George Bascom served as postmaster from 1901 to 1905.. Money Order fees cost as little as three cents.

inches. It consists of 28 unnumbered pages and is bound in a rose-colored cover. It includes an Explanatory (introduction) page and a description of each of the four rural routes, numbers 30 through 33. Other pages display Postal Rules, Rate of Postage, Fees charged for money orders, and R.R. Time Tables. The postmaster, George Bascom, is pictured on the page with the money order fees table. The remaining 14 pages plus
James Bascom was one of four rural route carriers at Lynn. The others were John Carter, H. M. Benson and Henry Hawkins.

and a brief, but detailed, description of the route the carrier took when delivering the mail. Each route description is followed by a listing of the patrons on that route in alphabetical order. Route 30 had 94 patrons while routes 31, 32, and 33 had 84, 76, and 72 patrons, respectively. Some of these patrons would have been the great grandparents of the kids I grew up and went to school with at Lynn. Some were relatives of mine. Two railroads served Lynn, and a turntable was located near the depot. The time tables listed in this directory are for the G.R. & I.

(Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad) and the C.C.C. & St. L. (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis) Railway. The schedule was effective as of February 14, 1904. W. B. Lounsbury was the GR & I agent; E. H. Jones was the C.C.C. & St. L. agent. Most advertisements in the directory are or -page, but a few are full page and a Winchester ophthalmologist has a two-page spread to advertise his services and explain in some detail the value of eye care. The directory contains a total of 30 ads for goods and services for sale by various Lynn businesses. They range from dentistry and cement work to groceries, millinery, fencing, and banking. Nearly every business in Lynn must have had an advertisement in the directory. The previously mentioned article by Willard Heiss contains an interesting footnote about Lynns rural route service. Carrier James Bascom submitted a request in 1908 to use his Brush automobile to cover his route. Heiss reports that the Second Assistant Postmaster General approved the use of the car if and when, in his [the carriers] opinion, the weather and the condition of the roads would permit it. The directory is not in great shape. The cover has been marked up with pencil doodles. Plus, notation has been written around the perimeter. It reads, Raymond Beeson Bloom-

Timetables for the GR&I Railroad and the CCC & St. Lou- ingport Indiana Randolph Co. Washington is Railway at Lynn. Note that two of the trains arriving Township District No. 12. Raymond Beeson from Indianapolis turned around at Lynn and returned has also signed his name on a couple of the to Indianapolis.

pages. One of the advertising pages has two imprints of a rubber stamp, I. N. BEESON, BLOOMINGPORT, IND. R. L. Polk gazetteers from the 1880s list a Beeson & Bales General Store in Bloomingport. The Bloomingport map in the 1909 Randolph County plat book shows a store owned by I. N. Beeson on the northwest corner of Main Street and Public Road. The map also shows that I. N. Beeson and J. H. Bales were neighbors on Public Road near the west edge of town. Isaac N. Beeson was identified as the Bloomingport Postmaster in both the 1882-83 and 1884-85 Indiana gazetteers. That may give us some idea of the provenance of this directory.

1The

Early Development of Mail Service in

Randolph County. Published in two parts in the February 1963 and March 1963 issues of The Randolph County Historical Review. Winchester, Indiana.