Why were Post Offices discontinued?
According to the 1897 Annual Report of the Postmaster General, “In cases where an office ceases to be a public necessity, or it is impossible to secure a suitable postmaster, the office is discontinued….” The number of Post Offices peaked in 1901 at 76,945; the number sharply declined in the ensuing decade, due to the spread of rural free delivery. Changes in demographics and transportation patterns have contributed to a gradual decline in the number of Post Offices. At the end of the fiscal year 2005, there were 27,385 independent Post Offices.
