By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 16, 2018
Here follows an 1839 Federal request-for-proposal (RFP) for carrying the mail weekly along a 40-mile post road or route from Pittsfield, NH, to Alfred, ME, and back again. The Milton Mills post office is one of the stops.
PROPOSALS. FOR carrying the mails of the United States, from the 1st of July, 1839, to the 30th of June, 1841; inclusive, on the following post routes in New England. will be received at this Department until the 25th day of May next, at 3 o’clock, p m, to be decided on the 1st day of June following.
[Extracted from a lengthy list of routes]
155a. From Pittsfield, by the store of George Nutter, in Barnstead, over New Durham bridge, by Middletown, Wakefield, Union, Milton Mills, Alfred, Me., 40 miles and back, once a week. Leave Pittsfield every Tuesday at 5 a.m., arrive at Alfred same day by 7 p.m. Leave Alfred every Wednesday at 5 a.m., arrive at Pittsfield same day by 7 p.m. (Burlington Sentinel and Democrat, June 26, 1839).
Taken together with the previously published 1827 route, the Milton Mills post office functioned as a node or outpost on a network, connected to others by several spokes or attachments.
See also Milton in the News – 1827, Milton’s First Postmasters (1818-c1840), and Milton in the News – 1848
Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1838; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1842
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