Dallas History Items:
First General Delivery Mail Pouch

Charles H. Durgin was named the city's first Federal postmaster in 1846, the year the state government was inaugurated following annexation. At that time, mail was carried primarily by stagecoach or by rider on horseback, and most mail centers were located in Central, South, and East Texas. Of these, Houston was probably the busiest and most important.

By the outbreak of the Civil War, there were 31 coach lines delivering mail in Texas, and many of them had expanded West, prompted in large part by westward settlement accompanying the California gold rush. During the war, some stagecoach lines signed contracts to deliver mail for the Confederate government. The shipments these mail carriers delivered contributed to the Confederate war effort.

By the late 1800s, mail delivery had shifted from the stage lines to the railroad. At that time, Dallas had become a bustling postal center. In 1900, the population of Dallas was approximately 42,000, but the post office was handling a volume of business for a city twice that size.

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