Rural Routes

Are there still rural routes? In the old days, if I wanted to send a letter to my aunt in West Glenville, I’d address it to her name, R.D. (rural delivery) #3, Amsterdam. The mailman who had that route was just expected to know who lived where – no road name was required. Imagine.

 

In this 1935 Beck’s Pocket Guide to Troy, they saw fit to publish the complete rural routes, road by road. Useful, I suppose, if you needed to chase down the mailman. And today a couple of them would still make for some nice bicycling routes.

By the way, Superintendent of Mails I.G. Flack sounds like a prank call name.