Yesterday, May 15, was the forty-fifth anniversary of the first rural delivery of mail in Iroquois county, and that was from the Sheldon post office. Chas. Bussert, one of our esteemed citizens, was the carrier for this first route.
In an interview with Mr. Bussert the fore part of the week, he stated that he served until May 15, 1934. During this time he was under nine postmasters in Sheldon. Postmaster Ranton drove the first trip with him 45 years ago, and Postmaster Walter Maddin drove with him his last trip 12 years ago.
Mr. Bussert received a total of $500 a year when he began the route. He recalls that it was in 1915 that the team gave way to the auto, but then only in good weather. The team made the route in bad weather for four or five years after that.
It was way after dark many the day when he came in off his route. That is a far cry from the time needed today to cover a rural route.
Two more routes were started in Sheldon in 1902 with Harry Shaw and Steve Reighart as carriers. About 1930, with the retirement of the late Albert Burroughs, the three routes were consolidated into the present two routes.
Concerning the establishment of this first route a May, 1901, issue of the Journal says:
The free rural delivery route as submitted by Postmaster Ranton has been endorsed by the department, and the farmers along the line will have free delivery after May 15.
Special Delivery Agent A. B. Smith was here Saturday and, in company with Postmaster Ranton, went over the proposed route. Mr. Smith found that the route had been carefully planned, and did not think it necessary to make any change.
The route is the same as published in the Journal last June, and is as follows:
Beginning at the west side of the corporate limits of Sheldon, a distance from the post office of one-half mile, thence south one-half mile, three miles west to Lister’s Point, two miles south to Pleasant Valley school house, two miles east to Center school house, two miles south to Amos schoolhouse, one mile east, one mile south to township line, one mile east three miles north to Willow Grove school house, one mile east one mile north, one-half mile to state line road, three miles north through Effner, west one and a half mile, south one mile, west one-half mile, south one-half mile to post office. Making a total of twenty-five miles.
The cost to the farmer will be $3 for a box, lock and steel post, or $2.50 without the lock.
There are 125 houses on the route, and there will be about 110 boxes.
Postmaster Ranton has worked hard for the establishment of the route, and his efforts are doubtless appreciated by the farming community. He is the first to secure one in Iroquois county. Milford, Onarga, and Buckley come later.
In addition to this route another is under consideration covering the rest of the territory surrounding Sheldon.
The establishment of the routes will not necessarily increase the labor in the post office here, outside of the increased business that will follow.
The office at Effner will be abolished after May 15th, and the one at Eastburn after June 1st, if the other route is established.
The mail wagon will leave over its route immediately after the arrival of the 11:27 train from the north, and make daily trips, Sunday excepted.
Mr. Smith, who during his travels over the country, visits a great many post offices, and has many opportunities to observe a thing or two, complimented Postmaster Ranton very highly on the way the office here was conducted, and said it was one of the neatest and best equipped offices it has been his pleasure to visit for some time.
Source
Sheldon Journal, Sheldon, Illinois, 16 May 1946
Notes
People mentioned in this article
- Albert C. Burroughs (1860-1946)
- Charles K. Bussert (1873-1950)
- Henry William ‘Harry’ Shaw (1866-1934)
- James Walter ‘Walter’ Maddin (1890-1953)
- Stephen C. ‘Steve’ Reighart (1867-1921)
- William L. Ranton (1869-1902)