Charlotte JacobsBert and Minnie Andrews built the post office in 1919, added the general store building shortly thereafter, and soon installed gas pumps, as well. The gas pumps have been gone for some time, but the store and post office remain much as they were 89 years ago.

“Oh! It’s just like stepping back in time!” That’s a familiar comment heard by Jean Smith, Oysterville postmaster. Visitors to the historic village of Oysterville often stop at the Oysterville Store to buy a picture postcard and then pop into the tiny post office next door to have it cancelled and mailed. Invariably they are charmed!

Regular postal patrons, also, love the “old fashioned” feel as they enter the vestibule, confident that behind the historic postboxes and traditional post office window, up-to-date service is the order of the day. But an even bigger plus than modern conveniences such as computers and fax machines, according to Oysterville residents, is the personal service that accompanies every transaction.

“We have 190 post boxes,” says Jean, “and right now we have 176 postal patrons.” She knows them all by name – even their family members and their dogs. “It’s the one place in town that people visit on a regular basis, so it’s natural that neighbors often exchange news here or want to find out when the next community potluck at the school house is scheduled.” Jean is always accommodating.

The Oysterville Post Office in its present location has been the center of village life since 1919 when Bert and Minnie Andrews had the building constructed. For a short time, it was a “stand alone” structure, the first space in Oysterville to be built specifically with mail in mind, but soon Bert added to the building and opened the general store which continues in business to this day.

During Oysterville’s first four years, there was no post office nor was there any formal means of sending and receiving mail. Yet letters did come and go, carried by travelers who happened to be heading in the right direction. Schooner captains, too, were unofficial mailmen who often carried business letters between oyster company officials in Shoalwater Bay and their colleagues in San Francisco or, perhaps for friends, they transported letters of a more personal nature – all for a price, of course.

Oldest in Pacific CountyUntil there was an official post office in Oysterville, mail delivery was a bit haphazard – perhaps left at a central location such as a store or saloon, the recipient getting word of its arrival by “oyster telegraph,” local equivalent for word-of-mouth. When Isaac Alonzo Clark became the town’s first postmaster on April 29, 1858, mail was probably left at his home.

A few years later he built one of the first general merchandise establishments in Oysterville, “Sperry Store” on the southwest corner of First and Pacific streets. An area toward the back of the building was designated for use as a post office. Since that time, the U.S. Postal Service has had an on-going presence in the village. It is the oldest post office operating continuously and under the same name in Pacific County.

Like most early settlements on the Northwest coast, Oysterville’s first mail route was primarily by water. Letters came to Astoria by ship down river from Portland or up the coast from California, and then across to Chinookville or Pacific City and later to Ilwaco. At that point however, the water journey was disrupted.

For over 30 years mail continued north by horse or stage up the “weatherbeach” – the long smooth stretch of sand on the ocean side of the peninsula. At first, the overland parts of the journey – from Ilwaco to the beach and then from the beach to Oysterville – were made by a man on horseback riding along the Indian trails. By the time stagecoaches came into use along the route, trails had been widened to accommodate wagon traffic and mail was carried on a more-or-less regular schedule at least once a week. Since the run along the weatherbeach had to be made according to the tides – that is at whatever hour the tide was low enough to permit completion of the trip – departures from Ilwaco or Oysterville were adjusted according to the tide table and weather, rather than according to the clock.

Driving on the WeatherbeachJohn Morehead drove the stage coach from 1882 to 1885 at which time he entered the store business in Oysterville and became the town’s seventh postmaster. His account of transporting the mail during his stage driving days was first printed in the North Beach Tribune in August 1927:

Page after page has been written about the exploits and adventures of the old stage drivers of the mountains and plains, but one of those spectacular drivers would have had an experience that he never dreamed of had he found himself on the weather beach with a heavy load of passengers, two or three hours before daylight in the morning, with an eighty-mile gale blowing the cutting sand into his face with a ten-foot tide shooting the drift logs past his horses and swells that only could be kept out of the stage by careful and watchful driving…

Even so, by the 1880s mail and passengers were being taken over the route from Astoria to Olympia three times a week. The first leg of the journey was on the steamer General Canby which ran between Astoria and Ilwaco by way of Fort Stevens and Fort Canby.

Leg two was by the Loomis Stage Line running right along the ocean beach from Ilwaco to Oysterville.

Part three of the journey was by the little steamer Garfield which crossed Shoalwater Bay from Oysterville to Bay Center, South Bend, Riverside, Woodard’s Landing (now Willapa) and North Cove.

At North Cove passengers and mail were transferred to a stage coach for the run to Peterson’s Point, now known as Westport.

The fifth leg of the journey from Peterson’s Point to Montesano was again by water on the stern-wheeler Montesano.

The sixth and final leg of the trip was by stage from Montesano to Olympia. Total time for this incredible mail run was 60 hours!

A Tradition BeginsIn the tradition begun by Isaac Clark, the post office has usually been a part of a store building, often with a separate entrance. John Crellin, Jr., John Briscoe and his son Burr were the next three postmasters and all were in the general merchandise trade with storefronts in downtown Oysterville. However, the tradition took a bit of a twist in 1879 when saloon keeper Dan Rodway of the “Temperance Billiard Hall” became postmaster.

To get the mail it was necessary to enter Rodway’s saloon, a requirement that the good women of the village found highly objectionable. To placate them, Rodway put a letter slot and a buzzer on the back door for their use. Nonetheless, the ladies persisted in their objections and in 1883 succeeded in having one of their own, Mrs. Anna M. Brown, appointed postmaster. Mrs. Brown operated the post office from her home, considered by the distaff members of Oysterville to be an infinitely more respectable environment than its former beery location.

Perhaps the reason that the postmasters were most often associated with other business enterprises is related to the pay scale. In March 1888, for example, John Morehead received only $25.12 for his first quarter’s income and during the last quarter of that year business was so slow that only one 10 cent special delivery stamp was sold. Even by the standards of the day, Mr. Morehead was not getting rich from his postal duties.

Unequaled Service RecordsIn several instances the postmaster’s job was passed from one family member to another. When John Morehead took over in 1885, he was following in the footsteps of his mother-in-law Anna Brown. In the case of the Briscoes, the job had gone from father John to son Burr in 1877 and then, several postmasters later, to mother Julia Briscoe in 1889. But it is the Andrews family who prevailed in terms of years served.

Sam Andrews was postmaster from July 23, 1895 until his brother Tom replaced him on May 4, 1901. In 1913, Sam took over again and then in July 1918 their niece-in-law, Minnie Andrews, became postmaster. According to Minnie’s granddaughter, Charlotte Jacobs, the issue was probably not one of nepotism but more a question of who could be talked into taking on the job.

A case in point is when Tom Andrews was eager to move away from the peninsula. Taking his postal responsibilities seriously, he felt he could not leave Oysterville before finding a replacement postmaster and talked brother Sam into serving a second time. It apparently took Sam another five years to talk Minnie into taking her turn. By the time Minnie retired on July 1, 1945, the Andrews family had collected and distributed mail for the residents of Oysterville for 50 years, less 21 days. An admirable record!

Of Oysterville’s 17 postmasters Mary Munsey had the distinction of serving for the longest time – from July 1, 1965 to April 21, 1993, more than 28 years. Several generations of Oysterville’s children grew up with fond thoughts of Mary as their daily connection to the ‘outside world.’

“I feel privileged to serve here, following in the footsteps of so many interesting and dedicated postmasters,” says Jean. “Mary was still the postmaster when my husband John and I bought the building in 1984. I was managing the Oysterville Store, working right next to the post office every day and it seemed natural to take some training so that I could work there occasionally. By the time Casey Killingsworth came in 1993, I was able to serve as the relief postmaster.”

And the rest is history, as they say. By 2000, Jean was working as Officer in Charge, taking Casey’s place when he was sent on temporary assignments to Long Beach and, later, to Astoria. On June 2, 2002 she became the full time postmaster in Oysterville.

“I am so pleased that the 150th anniversary of the Oysterville Post Office is happening during my tenure here,” smiles Jean. “It’s an important historical event and I am proud to have a part in its planning and, of course, in the celebration on April 29!”