Postal inspector Earl Deam was to determine the need for city delivery and asked the post office to count every piece of mail handled during the first fifteen days of March so he could estimate the office's annual volume. On Friday, March first, over ten thousand pieces of first class mail were handled, of which over 2,700 were local drop letters.
If delivery was established, drop letters would cost two cents instead of one cent, and at the present volume increased drop letter postage would more than offset loss of post office box rentals caused by patrons discontinuing their boxes. Many papers and packages were mailed every day, and letters were just a small part of the articles the post office handled.
On Thursday, March 12, the City Council adopted an ordinance requiring all houses to be systematically numbered according to the 1929 street map using the century plan, with each block designated by the hundred. The first block of any street would be block 100, the second block, 200, etc. Where street layouts were irregular, one unit would be applied every 25 feet.
The City hired engineer Don Nolte to immediately number the houses. The City would purchase the necessary numbers and have Mr. Nolte attach them to every house in the city limits for fifteen cents per each house, to be paid by the occupant. Anyone refusing to pay would be fined up to $25.00.
Postal Inspector Deam spent March 21st, 22nd and 23rd inspecting Mt. Pleasant for free delivery. Mr. Deam said he could make a favorable report except for the lack of continuous sidewalks in about half of the town, and it would be necessary to improve the sidewalks before free delivery could begin.
The Post Office Department usually did not want shrubbery on their grounds, but Postmaster Spearman continually requested that shrubs be set out around the new post office. In latter March, 1928 Acting Treasury Department Supervising Architect James A. Wetmore sent Postmaster Spearman plans for landscaping the local post office grounds and said they were asking for bids. The plans called for a row of hedges on both sides of the building from the rear drive to the front entrance, and for blooming shrubs to be planted around the building at different places.
In March, 1930, the Post Office Department advertised for bids to transport first class mail, newspapers, special delivery and parcel post articles for four years beginning July first from Mt. Pleasant to Tyler and back. The mail was transported in closed pouches and was presently being carried by Southwestern Transportation Company. The 75 mile route began at the Mt. Pleasant Cotton Belt depot, by the Pittsburg and Gilmer railroad stations, the Winona bus station, to the Tyler railroad depot. A $2,800 bond was required of the successful bidder.
On May 22, 1930 a star route from Greenville to Mt. Pleasant following Highway One, and returning by way of Pittsburg and west to Sulphur Springs on Highways 66 and 11 was inaugurated. The truck that delivered the Dallas News would also deliver first class mail to all post offices between Greenville and Mt. Pleasant. It would leave Greenville at 3 a. m. daily except Sunday, arriving in Mt. Pleasant at 5:20. It would then leave on its return trip by way of Pittsburg at 5:26 arriving at Greenville at dawn.
Postmaster Spearman was elected president of the Texas Postmasters' Association at its convention in Houston on May 28, 1929, a promotion from his former position as their first vice president. The Texas Postmasters' Association was composed of almost all of Texas' postmasters, especially those from first and second class post offices. Mr. Spearman was the first postmaster from a second class office ever elected president of the association.
On April 1, 1931 Mt. Pleasant Rural Route 2 was enlarged considerably and re-routed, extending its length 7 miles and giving mail service to 51 families. On April 16, Route 3 was changed to add 21 families who were not receiving rural delivery.
Cotton Belt trains carried the mail between cities. In early 1931, Cotton Belt discontinued two of its daily passenger trains through Mt. Pleasant, which slowed the mail and express service. In early June, 1931 H. L. Smith of Southwestern Transportation Company said he would ask the Railroad Commission for permission to operate a nightly bus from Texarkana to Dallas, and also one from Dallas to Texarkana to handle mail for this area.
On Monday, August 17, 1931 Southwestern Transportation Company busses began carrying first class mail, newspapers and special handling parcel post packages in a star mail route between Mt. Pleasant and Texarkana. The route was run daily, except Sundays. Mail arrived in Mt. Pleasant from Texarkana at 4:40 p. m., and left Mt. Pleasant going east at 5:15 p. m. The route also handled mail for Omaha, Naples, and Maud. The new route enabled mail to reach Texarkana in time to be loaded on a Texas & Pacific train and reach Dallas the next morning.
Postage rates increased on July 6, 1932 for all four classes of mail. Letters increased from 2c each to 3c per ounce or fraction thereof. Postcards and drop letters for mail in the city limits remained at 1c.
After delivering mail on Mt. Pleasant's Rural Route 6 for fifteen years, carrier J. W. F. Johnson retired on July 9, 1932. Substitute carrier John Colley acted as Route Six's temporary carrier until Mr. Johnson's successor was appointed. On August 16, 1932 the Post Office Department in Washington, D. C. consolidated the 137 boxes on Mt. Pleasant's Route 3 and the 102 boxes on Winfield's Route 1 into a 45.32 mile route, the county's longest. Carrier James M. (Bill) Beck of Winfield was transferred to Mt. Pleasant on August 16 to take over J.W.F. Johnson's Route 6. In 1933 the Post Office Department continued consolidating rural routes when possible if a vacancy occurred, having one carrier serve as many patrons as possible to maximize economy. On Sunday, April 16, 1933 Winfield's Rural Route 2 was also merged with Mt. Pleasant's Route 6. The consolidation made Route Six 53.2 miles in length with more patrons than both routes had before. After the consolidation, the Winfield Post Office no longer operated rural routes.
The First Congressional District postal clerks association was formed on March 25, 1933 to improve area mail service and to procure better working conditions where needed. The meeting was held in Mt. Pleasant with seventeen present, including state organizer O. D. Aston and Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Fouts of Dallas. Membership was restricted to employees in the First Congressional District's first, second and third class post offices except Cumby, and also included Commerce and Winnsboro. The members elected C. T. Holcomb of Mt. Pleasant as president, Tom Owen of Sulphur Springs as vice president, and F. H. Garrett of Pittsburg as secretary-treasurer.
Mt. Pleasant's Rural Route 2 was established on November 1, 1903 when Titus County's rural free delivery routes were being organized and carriers were appointed mainly by the request of the patrons to be served.
Luke Thornton circulated a petition among the people living on one of the proposed routes requesting to become their carrier, and a wide majority of them signed his petition. He was later appointed to carry the mail on Rural Route 2.
Mr. Thornton was so popular with all of the people along his daily route that when loss of revenue created a danger of losing the route, all of the patrons began buying stamps and writing to each other so that both the route and Luke could be retained. Several years later he was given a nice quilt with the names of all of his Route 2 patrons embroidered on it. When former route patrons heard about it they wrote to get their names on the quilt, but it had been covered. A second quilt was made so their names could be inscribed.
On November 29, 1933, after more than 30 years of delivering the mail on Route 2, Mr. Thornton retired. Route Two was absorbed by Walter Taylor's Route One.
After serving almost 12 years under three Presidential administrations, Postmaster Nathaniel Spearman retired on February 4, 1935. On Monday, January 21, 1935 U.S. Postmaster General J. A. Farley notified W. E. McClintock that President Roosevelt had appointed him as Mt. Pleasant's Acting Postmaster effective February 15, 1935. Mr. McClintock had served as Titus County District Clerk for four years, Titus County Clerk for four years, and had been actively been engaged in the grocery business in Mt. Pleasant businesses since he retired from public office. He actively supported Wright Patman in his congressional race in Titus County when Congressman Patman defeated Eugene Black six years before.
Free home delivery in Mt. Pleasant was revisited under Mr. McClintock's administration as postmaster. In mid-June, 1935, District Postal Inspector B. E. Deam notified Mr. McClintock that the First Postmaster General wanted to hear from Mt. Pleasant's citizens regarding free delivery, and that Mr. Deam would visit Mt. Pleasant within 10 days to see if free delivery should be established. Mr. McClintock asked that local postal patrons write him expressing their opinion on the matter.
Before Mt. Pleasant could get free delivery, it would still be necessary that the city have a large percentage of sidewalks so that carriers would not have to walk in mud on their rounds. The sidewalks did not have to be concrete, but must be constructed so rainy weather did not cause them to be boggy.
Free delivery also meant that intra-city postage rates would be increased from 1 to 2 cents to offset the loss of box rent that free home delivery would cause.
We remind our visitors that things were still very different in 1935 than they are today. When Mr. McClintock received the above letter, heavy rains had recently interrupted mail service - not walking service inside the city, but inter-city service between towns. A large rain fell in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area the week before. Although we didn't receive much rain here, 9-1/2" fell around Commerce and Greenville on Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15, 1935.
Because the highways and railroads were not built to the standards they are today, the big rain stopped mail, train and bus service from the west. The St. Louis Southwestern Railway's road bed was washed out at several places; one between Commerce and Sulphur Springs and several places between Commerce and Dallas. East-bound buses from Dallas were stopped until the water receded at an underpass near Greenville, where water stood five feet deep over the road. Mail destined for Mt. Pleasant from DFW had to be transferred from the Cotton Belt to the Katy railroad at Greenville, taken to Texarkana, then brought back to Mt. Pleasant by the Cotton Belt by No. 1.
On Thursday morning, August 1, 1935, Acting Postmaster W. E. McClintock received his permanent commission as for Mt. Pleasant Postmaster from President Roosevelt, effective July 18th.
In early 1937, several things pushed Mt. Pleasant closer to free home delivery, most having more to do with increased local post office business than with Mt. Pleasant's working to obtain it. The local post office's business had increased over 20% during 1936. Following the discovery of oil and the town's rapid growth which began in early 1936, for the first time in the post office's history every small post office box had been rented by late 1936. Only a few medium boxes and a few large drawers remained available. Once all the post office boxes were rented there would be no choice but to begin city delivery, and the town was still growing rapidly.
The city still needed to erect signs to show street names at intersections, and all buildings had to be numbered. Buildings had been numbered several years previously, but numbers had been removed from many houses and new buildings that did not have numbers had been erected since then. The paving program then underway would soon advance sufficiently to be adequate for delivery service, but sidewalks were badly deficient in certain parts of the city.
In January and February 1937, Assistant Postmaster D. W. White said that postal receipts increased 28.5 per cent over the previous year. March 1, 1937 was probably the busiest day in the post office's history, with a line of patrons stretching from the window to outside the office.
The business increase attracted the First Assistant Postmaster General's attention, who wrote Postmaster McClintock inquiring about the office's unusual business growth and asking why receipts had increased so much.
Postal receipts for the first nine months of 1937 amounted to $20,695.05, while in the same period in 1936 they were $16,672.72, a 24 percent increase. Registered mail, money orders, insurance and other department receipts increased likewise. Money order sales were the largest in the history of the post office, with over $26,000 in money orders being sold.
A City crew began stenciling street names in black on curbs all street intersections in the city limits on September 28, 1938. They had previously painted an orange background on the curb in preparation. But by the end of 1941, the City and its residents still had not complied with Post Office Department requirements for free delivery.
Postmaster McClintock received notice from the First Assistant Postmaster General that after a recent investigation, the Post Office Department was prepared to authorize city delivery service in Mt. Pleasant if the requirements were complied with.
The two city routes had been surveyed, and all that was necessary to obtain the service was to erect street signs, number buildings, and install mail receptacles. Many street signs could be painted on curbs, but signs would need to be erected at other intersections. Individuals must number their own houses end install mail receptacles.
Mr. McClintock said that he had done all he could to secure free delivery, and it was up to Mt. Pleasant's citizens to meet the requirements if they wanted free delivery service.
Mr. McClintock died while in office on August 14, 1948, and Mrs. Annie Lois McClintock, his wife, was appointed Acting Postmaster. She did not ask for a permanent appointment.
Aubrey B. (Cub) Gilpin became Mt. Pleasant's new Postmaster on September 16, 1949. Mr. Gilpin had previously been district and county clerk, secretary of the selective service board during the war, and rural carrier on Route One for the past five years.
The post office received new landscaping in February, 1959. Postmaster L. A. Adams said Kay's Nursery was the only bidder for the $241.15 job. Thirteen varieties of shrubs, but predominately purple honeysuckle, English ivy and Japanese boxwood were planted at each side of the entrance and along the Madison and West Third Street sides. Kay's also planted Buford holly, dwarf gardenia, eleagnus pittioporum, Chinese holly, firethorn, wax leaf legustrum, cherry laurel, glossy abelia and bridal wreath.
In 1960, post office receipts passed $100,000. In July, 1961, local businessman W. D. Culver served as acting postmaster. The U. S. Civil Service Commission advertised the position for applicants through August 1 at an annual salary of $6,870.
The post office's increased receipts warranted a position of superintendent of mails to supervise incoming and outgoing mail, give periodic exams to clerks and dispatchers, and act as the assistant postmaster in the postmaster's absence.
Missouri native Warren F. Swan, a 21-year Mount Pleasant Post Office veteran, was promoted on July 22, 1961 to superintendent of mails. Mr. Swan attended Mount Pleasant schools and was a 1925 graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School. He attended Austin College at Sherman and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas Tech. He returned to Mount Pleasant and coached at Mount Pleasant High for three years before joining the Post Office on July 1, 1936.
