A postal village is generally a community, settlement, or hamlet (place) that has a post office and is designated as such by the postal administration. It may be seen as a rural neighbourhood.
This term seems to have been most common in the latter half of the 19th century when it was in common use in maps and gazetteers, variously abbreviated p.v., P.V., PV, and p-v. The term is generally used for a community within a township (rural region) as opposed to an incorporated village or other municipal government. By establishing a post office in a particular community it receives official recognition, often for the first time, for a name, an important step in the development of any community.
Famous quotes containing the words postal and/or village:
“none
Thought of the others they would never meet
Or how their lives would all contain this hour.
I thought of London spread out in the sun,
Its postal districts packed like squares of wheat:”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1985)
“When a village ceases to be a community, it becomes oppressive in its narrow conformity. So one becomes an individual and migrates to the city. There, finding others likeminded, one re- establishes a village community. Nowadays only New Yorkers are yokels.”
—Paul Goodman (1911–1972)