• 1639 Richard Fairbanks' tavern in Boston named repository for overseas mail
• 1775 Benjamin Franklin, first Postmaster General under Continental Congress
• 1789 Samuel Osgood, first Postmaster General under Constitution
• 1823 Navigable waters designated post roads by Congress
• 1825 Dead letter office
• 1829 Postmaster General joins Cabinet
• 1830 Office of Instructions and Mail Depredations established, later Office of the Chief Postal Inspector
• 1838 Railroads designated post routes by Congress
• 1845 Star routes
• 1847 Postage stamps
• 1852 Stamped envelopes
• 1855 Registered Mail Compulsory prepayment of postage
• 1858 Street letter boxes
• 1860 Pony Express
• 1862 Railway mail service, experimental
• 1863 Free city delivery, Uniform postage rates, regardless of distance, Domestic mail divided into three classes
• 1864 Post offices categorized by classes, Railroad post offices, Domestic money orders
• 1869 Foriegn or international money orders
• 1872 Congress enacts Mail Fraud Statute
• 1873 Penny post card
• 1874 General Postal Union (later Universal Postal Union)
• 1879 Domestic mail divided into four classes
• 1880 Congress establishes title of Chief Post Office Inspector
• 1885 Special Delivery
• 1887 International parcel post
• 1893 First commemorative stamps
• 1896 Rural free delivery, experimental
• 1898 Private postcards authorized
• 1902 Rural free delivery, permanent
• 1911 Postal savings system, Carriage of mail by airplane sanctioned between Garden City and Mineola, NY; Earle H. Ovington, first U.S. mail pilot
• 1912 Village delivery
• 1913 Parcel post, Insurance, Collect-on-delivery
• 1914 Government-owned and-operated vechicle service
• 1916 Postal Inspectors solve last known stagecoach robbery
• 1918 Airmail
• 1920 Metered postage, First transcontinental airmail
• 1924 Regular transcontinental airmail service
• 1925 Special handling
• 1927 International airmail
• 1935 Trans-Pacfiic airmail
• 1939 Trans-Atlantic airmail, Autogiro service, experimental
• 1941 Highway post offices
• 1942 V-mail
• 1943 Postal zoning system in 124 major post offices
• 1948 Parcel post international air service, Parcel post domestic air service
• 1950 Residential deliveries cut from two to one a day
• 1953 Piggy-back mail service by trailers or railroad flatcars, Airlift
• 1955 Certified mail
• 1957 Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
• 1959 Missile mail dispatched from submarine to mainland Florida
• 1960 Facsimile mail
• 1963 ZIP Code and sectional center plan
• 1964 Self-service post offices, Simplified postmark
• 1965 Optical scanner (ZIP Code reader tested)
• 1966 Postal savings system terminated
• 1967 Mandatory presorting by ZIP Code for second- and third- class mailers
• 1968 Priority Mail, a subclass of First-Class Mail
• 1969 Patronage no longer a factor in postmaster and rural carrier appointments, First die proof of a postage stamp canceled on moon by Apollo 11 mission
• 1970 MAILGRAM, Postal Reorganization Act, Express Mail, experimental
• 1971 United States Postal Service began operation; Postmaster General no longer in Cabinet, Labor contract achieved through collective bargaining for the first time in history of federal government. Star routes changed to highway contract routes, National service standards established: overnight delivery of 35% of airmail within 600 miles and 95% of First-Class Mail within local areas
• 1972 Stamps by mail, Passport applications accepted in post offices
• 1973 National service standards expanded to include second-day delivery of parcel post traveling up to 150 miles, with one-day delivery time added for each additional 400 miles
• 1974 Highway post offices terminated, First satellite transmission of Mailgrams
• 1976 Post office class categories eliminated, Discount for presorted First-Class Mail
• 1977 Airmail abolished as a seperate rate category, Express Mail, permanent new class of service, Final run of railroad post office on June 30
• 1978 Discount for presorted second-class mail, Postage stamps and other philatelic items copyrighted, Discount for presorted bulk third-class mail, Post Career Executive Service (PCES) New standards require envelopes and postcards to be at least 3'/2" high and 5" long to be mailable
• 1980 INTELPOST (high-speed international electronic message service)
• 1981 Controlled ciculation classification discounted, Discount for First-Class Mail presorted to carrier routes
• 1982 Automation begins with installation of optical character readers, E-COM (Electronic Computer-Originated Mail, electronic message service with hard copy delivery)
• 1983 ZIP+4, Ended public service subsidy from federal goverment
• 1984 Integrated retail terminals automate postal windows
• 1985 Jackie Strange, first female Deputy Postmaster General, E-COM terminated
• 1986 International Priority Airmail, Postal Service realigned; field divisions created
• 1987 Small parcel and bundle sorters, Stamps by phone, Multiline optical character readers ordered
• 1988 Inspector General's Act extends duties of Chief Postal Inspector, Universal Postal Union Congress in Washington, DC, International business reply mail
• 1990 Wide area barcode readers, Easy Stamp, allowing purchase of stamps through computers
• 1991 Independent measurement of First-Class Mail service, International business reply service
• 1992 Remote barcoding system, Reorganization:regions, divisions and management sectional centers replaced by area and district offices for customer service and mail processing, Stamps sold through automatic teller machines

(Last updated April 2000)