Mailing in the New Year

 Happy New Year! To round out the end of 2025, let’s take a look at one of the oldest institutions in Bossier Parish: the Post Office. The Post Offices in the United States are managed by the United States Postal Service, under the direction of the executive branch of the United States government. Unlike many agencies, however, the USPS does not report to a particular cabinet secretary, instead functioning as an independent agency under the Postmaster General. The first Postmaster General was American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in July of 1775. Most Post Offices have their own Postmaster, who direct the local office and ensure the mail reaches its intended destinations. According to the “The United States Postal Service: An American History,” as the United States grew, so too did the Postal Service: “The number of Post Offices increased from 75 in 1790 to 28,498 in 1860. Post roads increased from 59,473 miles at the beginning of 1819 to 84,860 by the end of 1823. By the end of 1819, the Department served citizens in 22 states, including the newest states of Illinois and Alabama.” The Postal Service has also historically offered women potential careers, with many women serving as Postmasters, or Postmistresses, since the earliest days of the USPS. The USPS has worked to ensure that regardless of how rural a location may be, or how far west the boundaries moved, that the nation has remained connected. The growth of the United States of America and the growth of the United States Postal Service going hand-in-hand.

Here in Bossier Parish, the post office is younger than the parish itself. As some of you may know, and as a reminder for those who may not, Bossier Parish was not one of the original parishes in Louisiana. Carved from Claiborne Parish in 1843, Bossier Parish did not have a Post Office within its borders for roughly three years. In November of 1846, the first known Post Office in Bossier Parish was founded in the one-time community of Red Land. While the office would not be open long (closing for the first time in October 1853), the first Postmaster for Redland was Jerome B. Mading. Within the first two decades of the parish’s existence, the number of local Post Offices would fluctuate frequently. According to the July 1st, 1859, issue of the Bossier-Banner Progress, there were twelve operating Post Offices in the parish, with eleven Postmasters. By November 11th of the same year, the office in Bisteneau would be closed by order of the Postmaster General. The Red Land Post Office would be reopened after its initial closure in November of 1873, continuing until 1909 (albeit under a slightly altered name starting in 1895). The Redland office would be absorbed into the Plain Dealing Post Office, which persists to this day.

The Post Office that persists in the longest continuous stretch is in the parish seat of Benton. The Benton Post Office also had one of the first Postmistresses in Bossier. Mamie Edwards Stinson McKnight was the first acting Postmistress of Benton from July 1919 to April 1920. She, however, would not be the last. Of the several dozen Post Offices to have existed in Bossier Parish, only nine persist to this day (and only eight of which stand on the eastern side of the Red River). From north to south, the remaining Post Offices are as follows: Plain Dealing, Benton, Princeton, Haughton, Shreveport (Industrial), Bossier City, Barksdale AFB, Bossier City (Plantation Station), and Elm Grove. So, with the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, as well as the 250th anniversary of the United States, look back on one of the United States’ oldest institutions. It has sought to connect the nation, and our parish, throughout their storied histories.

If you have any photos or other information relating to the history of Bossier City or Bossier Parish, the History Center may be interested in adding the materials to its research collection by donation or by scanning them and returning the originals. Call or visit us to learn more. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org. We can also be found online at https://www.facebook.com/BPLHistoryCenter/ and http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/

Images: 

• Bossier Parish Rural Mail Carriers - BPL HC (1997.054.054)
• Plain Dealing Post Office and Mail Wagons - BPL HC (1997.062.167)
• BPL Benton Branch - Originally the Benton Post Office - BPL HC (0000.001.009)

Article by: Jonah Daigle