Hope rural mail featured by state historical society

The Indiana Historical Society is highlighting the town of Hope and its long-lasting rural mail delivery service.

The society pointed out on its social media that the town is celebrating 128 years of rural mail delivery. In 1896, Hope was one of two locations in the country to test the then-new idea of using mail routes to provide mail to rural homes, rather than just allowing mail to be picked up in town at the post office. The Hope experiment started on Oct. 15th and is the longest continuing location for rural mail delivery in the country.

The town used to have a small rural mail museum in the town square park that was not climate controlled. It was torn down in 2014 and the town’s rural mail artifacts are now housed in a museum space operated by the Yellow Trail Museum on the northwest corner of the square.

You can find more information at: theyellowtrailmuseum.org

Photo courtesy of Yellow Trail Museum