The Postal Service of the United States in Connection with the Local History of Buffalo | Page 7

Department that mail service, once in two
weeks, leaving Sheldon every other Friday at 6 a. m. and arriving at
Buffalo the next day at 10 a. m., and leaving Buffalo the same day at 12
m. and arriving at Sheldon the next day by 8 p. m., was the same year
put upon the route.
In 1815, the mail was carried from Buffalo to Erie once a week, leaving
Buffalo on Saturday at 12 m. and arriving at Erie on Monday at 6 p. m.,
and leaving Erie Tuesday at 6 a. m. and arriving at Buffalo on Thursday
by 10 a. m.
In 1816, the mail between Buffalo and Youngstown was carried twice a
week, twelve hours being allowed for a trip either way.
On the 3rd of March, 1817, a post-route "from Moscow by the State
road to Buffalo," and one "from Canandaigua, by Bristol, Richmond,
Livonia and Genesee to Sheldon" were established.
About the first of the year 1819 the post-office at Buffalo was made a
distributing office, and it has continued to be a distributing office ever
since.
From 1820 to 1824, the arrangements of the Department for mail
service from New York City to Buffalo, thence to Niagara, and from
Buffalo to Erie, Pa., were as follows:--Leave New York daily at 9 a. m.,
and arrive at Albany next day by 8.30 p. m.; leave Albany at 2 a. m.
and arrive at Utica the same day by 9 p. m. (10 p. m. in winter); leave
Utica the next day at 6 a. m. and arrive at Canandaigua the next day at
8 p. m.; leave Canandaigua at 6 a. m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays and arrive at Buffalo the next day at 6 p. m.; leave Buffalo
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 6 a. m. and arrive at Niagara the
same day at 6 p. m.; and also to leave Buffalo Tuesdays at 2 p. m. and
arrive at Erie the next day by 6 p. m. It will thus be seen that a letter

which left New York on Monday morning at 9 o'clock would reach this
city at 6 o'clock the next Sunday evening, and Erie three days later, if
the mails were not behind time. This frequently happened in bad
weather, and it is possible that the interest of contractors, as connected
with the transportation of passengers, sometimes induced them to reach
Buffalo in advance of their schedule time.
On the 3rd of March, 1823, a post-route was established "from Buffalo
in Erie to Olean in the County of Cattaraugus, passing through the
towns of Boston, Concord and Ellicottville."
On the 14th of July, 1824, the mail routes by which the Buffalo office
was supplied, and the service thereon, were as follows: Canandaigua to
Buffalo, three times a week; Niagara to Buffalo, three times a week;
Erie to Buffalo, twice a week; and Moscow to Buffalo, once a week.
From 1824 to 1828, the mail was generally carried from New York to
Albany by steamboats, six times a week, during the season of
navigation, and probably three times a week, by land, in winter; and the
mail from Buffalo to Albany was carried twice a week, by one line in
three days and four hours, and by the other in four days. The mails
from Buffalo to Youngstown and from Buffalo to Erie were carried
each way three times a week.
It is stated in the Buffalo Directory of 1828, that the number of mails
then arriving and departing weekly from the Buffalo post-office was
thirty-five. An advertisement by the late Bela D. Coe, Esq., states that
the Pilot mail-coach left Buffalo every evening, arrived at Geneva the
first day, Utica the second, and Albany the third; and that the Diligence
coach left Buffalo every morning at 8 o'clock, arrived at Avon the first
night, Auburn the second, Utica the third, and Albany the fourth.
On the 15th of June, 1832, a post-route was established "from Buffalo,
Erie County, by Aurora, Wales, Holland, Sardinia, China, Fredonia,
Caneadea and Belfast to Angelica in Allegany County"; after which no
other post-routes, commencing or terminating at Buffalo, were
established prior to 1845, except that by the Act of July 7, 1838, all the
railroads then existing (in which the Buffalo & Niagara Falls Railroad

must be included), or thereafter to be completed in the United States,
were declared post-roads, and the Postmaster-General was thereby
authorized, under certain restrictions, to contract for carrying the mails
thereon.
As the last link in the chain of railroads from Albany to Buffalo was
completed early in 1843, there was then, or soon after, continuous mail
transportation by railroad from Boston, through Worcester, Springfield
and Albany to Buffalo. The completion of the Hudson River Railroad,
and of the