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The actual Alderson community began
in Palestine. All of the community was served by a post office
there established April 3, 1839. (How postal service was provided prior to
that time is not know.) The First postmaster of Palestine was Thomas
C. M. Alderson, and seventeen postmasters served until the office was
discontinued October 12, 1886. The last Palestine postmaster was
Abram O. Baker. Years later an application was made to the Post
Office Department to reactivate the Palestine post office, but Palestine
in Wirt County West Virginia had been established. Advance was
chosen as the name in place of Palestine and on March 1, 1909 the Advance,
West Virginia, post office was established with A. J. Jones as postmaster.
On January 31, 1913 Advance was discontinued. It had but one
postmaster. On February 6, 1872, Alderson, Monroe County, West
Virginia, post office was established with Abraham E. T. Scruggs as
postmaster. The office has been in two or three locations on the
Monroe side. The present attractive building was finished in 1936 at
a cost of about $50,000.00 including land. On July 1, 1918, the
Alderson post office became second-class, its present class, when Joseph
N. Alderson was postmaster. The present postmaster is Duncan M.
Johnston. The Alderson post office serves about 5000 people
including the Federal Reformatory, in three counties. There are five
star routes and two RFD routes. Cash receipts in 1963 were $22,392.65 and
the office is credited with about $8,700.00 additional for the free
Government mailing for the Reformatory, which is about 30% of all mail
handled. The post office has ten Civil Service employees plus star
route contractors.
Photos of Alderson's
Post Offices.
Comments - John McCurdy
Next, the Military
History of Alderson
The contents contained in this series is copyrighted
and the sole property of
The Greenbrier
Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV
Used by permission - November 18, 2008 |
