Waverly Post Offices

In the decades after the Civil War, when Lizette Woodworth Reese grew up in Waverly, she would later come to write in A Victorian Village that “there was no post office in the neighborhood. People in general were obliged to have their mail directed in the care of friends in the city, preferably the proprietors of shops, and made periodical visits there to claim it.”

On getting mail, she wrote, “to receive a letter in that day was to receive something most precious. To a York Roader it was doubly so, for to the joy of receiving it, must be added the trouble and delight of the journey to town...It was brought home at sunset, and looked at lengthwise and sidewise and behind and before...Then it was read, and if not too private, reread to the interested and assembled family, thereby enriching their conversation for several weeks to come...It was a human document. Its leisurely and detailed contents were absorbed by the receiver and the audience, and talked about, and quoted...”

The trip to town was by a horse-pulled omnibus over the York turnpike’s dust or mud, before electric streetcars rode along rails laid along the turnpike. Before the village was annexed into the city in 1888, residents had petitioned the government for a post office and as a condition of being granted one, were required to change their name from Huntingdon to Waverly. The population was less than 4,000 according to J. Thomas Scharf in his History of Baltimore City and County,  though he said it doubled by the time of the 1880 census. The 1878 Maryland Directory lists 900 residents and names S. A. Bonsall as Postmistress.

In Methodism in Old Waverly and Its Environment Anna Cole writes, "during the time of T.S. Bonsal, the post office was at the tollgate. After his death his widow, Mrs. S. A. Bonsall, was appointed postmistress; later it was transferred to rooms in the Hamilton Hotel, which stood directly back of where the Sanitary Store now stands (1933). It was finally taken to the Town Hall, where it found lodgment until the end of 1929; then the new post office on the corner of 32nd Street and Tinges Lane was ready for occupancy."

The tollgate was located at Gilmore Lane and York Road, now Vineyard Lane and Greenmount Avenue. Town Hall was at Waverly Avenue and York Road, now 31st Street and Greenmount Avenue. A little below the tollgate were the hot houses and flower gardens of Charles Hamilton, whose had advertisements in the 1880 Maryland Directory side by side for the Waverly Hotel and Florist. Erected in 1870, the proprietor promised “Good Rooms” and “A few Summer Boarders will be taken.” The 1930s post office building is now an Ace hardware store where the engraving remains visible for Baltimore Post Office - Waverly Station.

According to Mary White’s Waverly, 1830-1983  paper for a Spring 1983 University of Baltimore history course, the post office moved in 1983 to a location “on Loch Raven Road south of Gorsuch Avenue”, which is actually on Homewood in the CHM neighborhood, having moved from the Homestead Street location in Waverly.

Around the time of The Belt Annexation when Waverly was just one of many villages coming into Baltimore City from Baltimore County, can be found a few old Sun pieces devoted to issues related to the transfer of fire, police and postal service jurisdiction from the county to the city. 

“Post Offices in Belt to be discontinued” (1/26/1877) suggests Waverly will have 3 carriers and notes the postmistress was paid $644.50; “Belt Post Offices, City Police and Fire Expansion” (5/23/1888) predicts Waverly will probably have a drug store station; “Mail Service Expansion” (9/17/1894) calls Waverly "Station 5" and names E. C. Livingston its superintendent.

Giving postal duties to the local tollgate keeper, hotelier-florist and druggist sounds like what is being suggested now for village center postal services in shops! And Waverly could really use a florist. Hopefully, we won't ever have to pay tolls on Greenmount, though.

In “Post Office to Speed Up Mail Service” (5/13/1943 Baltimore is divided into 31 postal districts, showing an annotated map where Waverly is number 18. The article notes the need to compensate for the loss of many of its postal workers to the armed services during that wartime.

In “Baltimore’s Postal System Selected for Full Overhaul” (2/10/1956) the government defends its plans to meet the needs of a “large growing city” and mentions Waverly is on a list of stations whose leases will soon be running out.

In “Suburban Residents Determined to Let Congress Know Where They Stand” (4/11/68), residents of Catonsville, Roland Park, Towson and parts of Waverly are reported to be against proposed consolidation that may deprive them of increased postal facilities.

In “Post office ponders steps to cut Waverly thefts” (1/17/1984) it is reported that a rash of muggings outside the "secluded" post office has prompted the Postal Service to consider instituting security measures, quoting a worker there, “Waverly is a bit of a problem simply because of its location...in an extremely financially depressed area and not on a main roadway.”

My personal favorite, however, is “The Postman Seldom Rings” (8/4/1946) a lengthy feature about George T. Fleming, Jr. said to be one of the best mailmen in Baltimore, who walked to work everyday from Homestead to Waverly and delivered mail on foot in Charles Village, always followed by a stray dog. It describes in detail what the day of a mailman consisted of, included a nice map showing the route he took and many photos, including one of the dog, Brownie, would would wait for him at Greenmount avenue and Thirty-second street.

Mr. Fleming had been a mail carrier at that time for 26 years. His duties included sorting mail - called “casing”, arranging it by street numbers - called “streeting”, marking up letters - writing forwarding addresses on them, packing his bag and strapping bundles for relay. Mailmen didn’t carry all their mail; bundles would get hauled to relay points - large corner mail boxes, where a mailman could pick them up later.  

The superintendent of the Waverly station, Charles Cooper, credited George Fleming as having the five essential qualities of a good postman, “He has a good memory, is interested in his work, realizes the importance of mail, knows how to handle it when working in the station and has a good personality.”

The headline referenced ringing the bell when delivering mail to anyone who requested a reminder that their mail had arrived.

I would vote for George Fleming and Brownie!