Anonymity and "Alts" on this board

[steve B]

Originally Posted by The Cardfather

Also Leon, I got a kick out of the address on the postcard. Just a name with the city/town & state. I guess it got delivered though.

Woburn wasn't all that big then, just over 15000. So it was probably a second or third class post office. Those didn't start carrier delivery until 1912. Until then you had to go to the post office to pick up all mail. At times they'd advertise mail on hand in the local paper.

The even more fun addresses are the older ones, even from major cities.
Within the town or city so little was needed I've seen ones just addressed like
Sam Smith
City

And yes That's literal, made up name but the address was often just "city" *

Of course I've seen others that got a bit more detailed.
Sam Smith
anywhere,
Some county
Some state
Old state road behind Roberts store near the stone bridge.

It's big fun looking at really old mail sometimes.

Steve B

* This was called "drop mail" as it was dropped off at the post office in the same city. When a letter was 3 cents, for years a letter within the same city brought to the post office only cost 2 cents. Not all mail was delivered, some cities didn't get delivery until 1912 although the big cities had it starting in the 1860's and rural delivery began in 1896.