Timeline
- 1639: First American Post Office set up in Boston
- 1672: New York City mail service to Boston, Massachusetts
- 1674: Mail service in Connecticut
- 1683: William Penn begins weekly service to Pennsylvania and Maryland villages and towns
- 1693: service between colonies began in Virginia
- 1775: First postmaster general appointed: Benjamin Franklin
- 1799: U.S. Congress passes law authorizing death penalty for mail robbery
- 1813: First mail carried by steamboat
- 1832: First official railroad mail service
- 1847: First U.S. postage stamps issued
- 1857: perforated stamps introduced
- 1860: Pony Express started
- 1861: Mailing of post cards permitted
- 1873: Pre-stamped "postal cards" introduced
- 1879: Postage Due stamps introduced
- 1885: Special Delivery service introduced
- 1893: First commemorative event stamps: World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago
- 1913: Domestic parcel post delivery began
- 1918: First airmail stamps used
- 1920: Transcontinental mail between New York and San Francisco
- 1955: Certified Mail service introduced
- 1958: Well-known artists begin designing stamps
- 1963: ZIP Codes introduced
- 1983: ZIP + 4 code introduced
- 1989: Priority Mail introduced
- 1997: Special Delivery discontinued
Read more about this topic: Postage Stamps And Postal History Of The United States