Misunderstanding and Irony
Postal History Sunday #203
Welcome to the July 4th edition of Postal History Sunday! If you've just walked into the door to view this blog for the first time, please feel welcome and if you have been here before, please be patient while I remind everyone to take a moment to get comfortable and grab a favorite beverage - but keep it away from the paper items (and the keyboard)!
As for those worries that bog you down during the week, now is the time to imagine that they are tied to the fireworks and let them go screaming into the sky, only to explode into a sparkly rainbow of color. Let's see if we can learn something new today!
This week we're going to look at an item that is much newer than many of the things I tend to show here. This letter was mailed by Otto Becker in Chicago on June 24, 1947. He addressed the letter to the Spencer Fireworks in Polk, Iowa, placing a 16 cent stamp to pay for the standard letter rate (3 cents) and the special delivery charge (13 cents).
Special (and Speedy) Delivery
The three cent per ounce letter rate for mail inside the United States was effective on July 6, 1932 and remained in force until July 31, 1958. Twenty-six years probably seems like a pretty long time for a single rate to be effective given the relatively rapid changes in present day rates. For contrast, the cost of letter mail changed eleven times from 1974 to 1999 (26 years) where the postage rate started at 8 cents at the beginning of 1974 and was 33 cents by the end of 1999.
At the time this letter was sent, postal customers could opt for Airmail letter service, which would have cost 5 cents per ounce. Such a letter would have required some sort of marking that airmail was requested. This letter does not use air service, so postal historians like to call it "surface mail," which covers travel by boat, train, car, truck or alpaca. Ok, maybe not alpaca. But, I think you get the idea.
The Special Delivery service cost an additional 13 cents (Nov 1, 1944 - Dec 31, 1948). Payment of the additional postage meant that once the receiving post office got the letter, they would send it out for delivery - even if the postal carriers had already left to run their routes! This service was available in the United States starting in 1885 and was terminated in 1997. At present, any mail received at a destination post office after the mail distribution will simply wait until the next day's distribution.
Let’ think for a minute what that means. Postal carriers pick up the mail for their route at the start of their workday, hop in their vehicle, and begin making their rounds. In modern times, a carrier spends a full eight-hour day covering their route. Sometimes, they might deliver in less time and other times it could take a little more (qualifying for overtime pay). So, it makes sense that, if more mail for that route comes in after the carrier leaves the post office, it would sit there until the next day. If it takes 8 hours to work the route, it is very inefficient and costly to revisit places that have already had a delivery!
Special Delivery meant that someone from the post office would make a special, additional, trip just to get that letter into the hands of the recipient. So, you might have thought, initially, that the cost of 13 ADDITIONAL cents over the regular 3 cents in postage seems pretty exhorbitant. But, in reality, I think it reflects either the very real cost of overtime or an additional employee to take these items to their destinations.
The Misunderstanding
This letter, where the individual paid extra postage for the special delivery services, was mailed on June 24, just ten days prior to the 4th of July. And, the envelope probably held an order for fireworks from the Spencer Fireworks Company in Polk, Ohio. The sender, Otto Becker, was certainly cutting things very close if they were thinking they wanted to receive fireworks in time for their own, personal, celebration of the Fourth. Apparently, this meant a fair amount to Otto, because they were willing to pay extra money to shave time off of the delivery process.
The problem is Otto added extra time for mail transit by failing to provide the correct address.
Otto fell prey to the issue many people seem to have with states that have four letters and more vowels than consonants - he confused Ohio and Iowa. You would think that someone who lives in Chicago would have some idea as to the difference between these two states due to their relative proximity to Illinois. But, no.
Still, with two of the three letters in common, you *might* be able to suggest that they were having trouble with a vowel movement.
No, no. We shan't be punning here. Oh, it's too late? Sorry.
Anyway, Otto sent this letter off to Polk, IOWA, in hopes that it would reach the fireworks supplier in time so they could fulfill their need for colorful explosions. A helpful postal clerk somewhere along the way found that there wasn’t a Polk in Iowa, but there was a Polk CITY, so they added "City" to the address and away it went, leaving Chicago and arriving in Polk City the next day (June 25).
The Polk City postmaster probably rolled eyes to the sky and said, "we've got another one."
I'm guessing this wasn't the first (or last) time that something was incorrectly addressed to the Spencer Fire Works company and was sent on to Polk City, Iowa, by mistake. So, the Polk City postmaster dutifully re-mailed the item to Polk, Ohio. A backstamp on the envelope shows that it did arrive at the proper town in Ohio on June 28.
Of course, we will never know if Otto received their fireworks in time. With this extra delay (3 days), I am guessing the answer is probably “no.” Otto probably sat dejectedly on his front porch, looking on enviously as all of their neighbors celebrated the 4th of July without him.
Alas!
The Irony
Items like this are a bit more interesting to a postal historian, such as myself, because something didn't quite go according to plan in the delivery process of this letter. I will also admit that the connection to my home state (Iowa) also makes it more attractive to me. If this letter had been correctly addressed to Polk, Ohio, I highly doubt I would have given this cover a second glance!
Initially, I thought it was interesting that someone would try to send something to a fireworks company in Iowa of all places. After all, there had been a ban on the private sale and use of fireworks in this state since 1938 (and has only been recently lifted - see below). By 1947 (the time this letter was mailed), I suspect most people in surrounding states might have some idea that fireworks were illegal in this state. One could say that it is ironic that people are confusing one state with legal fireworks with another state where no fireworks were allowed.
But, that's not good enough. I like a full dose of irony when I can get it. And, I got it this time.
In the process of confirming the date that the ban was put in place, I was able to learn some information about a key event that had much to do with the fireworks ban in the state. Before I tell you about it - look again at the NAME of the fireworks company. Got it stuck in your brain now? Good.
The year was 1931 and a very dry weather was beginning to take hold of a significant portion of North America. Have you heard of the Dust Bowl? Well, there you are. In any event, things were dry in Iowa, but towns in the state were still intent on celebrating the Fourth of July with fireworks. On June 27, 1931 temps were in the mid to high nineties and winds were strong.
I think you know what comes next...
There was an accident in one town. A local retailer had a display of fireworks that was accidentally set off. Fires spread rapidly. By the time the flames died down, one hundred buildings in the center of town were destroyed. Amazingly, no one died in the fires.
The name of the town that burned due to a fireworks accident?
Spencer
And A Bit More of the Story
One major event wasn't quite enough to get a ban in place. The "Remsen Holocost" of 1936 provided more impetus for change. Legislative action in 1937 led to the ban taking effect January 1st of 1938. This ban existed up until its removal in 2017.
The presence of large retail outlets at the border attested to a long-standing tendency of Iowans to cross the border to purchase fireworks regardless of the ban. As recently as 2013 there were more than 25 fires started by personal fireworks in the state.
Sadly, some of the side effects of ban removal were felt in the first year. Among them was an amazing decline in air quality in the state during the primary fireworks use dates. Interestingly enough, one of the reactions has been for local communities to limit or ban the use of fireworks within town limits.
And now for some more irony. Like the 1931 fire in Spencer, it isn’t a good irony. Heavy rains have caused significant flooding in the state this year (2024). Spencer is, once again, part of the headlines. Of the approximately 5000 structures in that town, 2100 have been damaged by the recent floods - some completely destroyed.
Want to learn more?
You can start sounding like an expert when it comes to United States domestic postal rates if you know what resources to use. An excellent work by Henry W Beecher and Anthony S Wawrukiewicz is titled "U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-1999." I certainly do not memorize all of the dates and rates - especially when I am looking at items out of the 1860s.
Thank you for joining me today. Have a fine remainder of your day and an excellent week to come.
Postal History Sunday is featured weekly on this Substack publication. If you take this link, you can view every edition of Postal History Sunday, starting with the most recent publication. If you think you might enjoy my writing on other topics, I can also be found at the Genuine Faux Farm substack. And, some publications may also be found under my profile at Medium, if you have interest.
Okay, I actually like your puns- they make me smile. I like the bonus fireworks history as well as postal history. And I am so old, I actually remember, first class, air mail, and special delivery mailings.
Typically the 4th of July weekend kicks off the start of fire season in California and elsewhere in the West. A short fireworks story:
I had hiked above treeline in Colorado with two friends back in the early 80's, to hopefully enjoy a quiet and peaceful 4th. We had barely got our tent set, when about 400 yards away a big and loud 4WD Suburban tore and clawed its way up the mountainside in this area it was NOT supposed to be. They promptly hacked down an old windblown Englemann spruce which was probably 150 years old but only a few feet tall, stubbornly clinging to life in very inhospitable conditions. BUT - it could not withstand the Suburban crew. They used it to build a horribly large and smoky fire, and soon started firing off a seemingly endless supply of bottle rockets and Roman candles down the mountainside.
It was too late to move.
A memorable 4th - - in all the worst ways.