The new Lopez Island Post Office was dedicated last week, and with it came the unveiling of an historical exhibit depicting the island’s postal past. Displayed in the Post Office lobby and sponsored by the Lopez Historical Society, the exhibit traces the course of the mail service which was often the only link to news from the outside world.
The first post office on Lopez was opened in 1873 by storekeeper Hiram Hutchinson, one of the island’s earliest white settlers. His trading post at the entrance to Fisherman Bay had long been a way point for correspondence, but only after Kaiser Wilhelm declared the San Juans to be U.S. territory -thus ending the infamous Pig War was an official post office franchise granted.
Hutchinson’s sister, Irene Weeks, who arrived on the island with her husband Lyman after their gold claim in Calaveras, Cal. played-out, soon took over as postmistress. As the population of the island expanded, the post office and store moved into new quarters at the head of a long pier which extended out toward San Juan Channel from what is now the parking lot of the Bay Cafe.
At about the same time, the south end population had increased to the point that a post office was opened at McKay (MacKaye Harbor), but it closed just a year later, and the franchise was transferred to Argyle, across the way on San Juan Island. By 1887, the growing population of Richardson had earned a post office, but because the dock had not yet been built, steamers delivered the mail to a float in Jones Bay. There was apparently no office then the mail was sorted and dispersed from the houses of the first two postmasters but it soon acquired an official location in the hotel that Hamilton Carr had constructed to house visiting salesmen or “drummers.”
Port Stanley was the next site to receive mail, gaining its charter in 1892, perhaps because the long pier extending into Swifts Bay could accommodate steamers. It was briefly closed in 1901 when the Thatcher Post Office on Blakely took over, but resumed operation in 1902, and also handled the mail for Decatur. The office was quartered in a succession of stores along the waterfront, one of which still stands.
In 1894 the Edwards post office was opened at the head of Mud Bay. It served the Sperry, Cape St. Mary area, and the grateful settlers’ mail was collected by horseback once a week from Richardson. The name was soon changed to Otis, because the address was often confused with Edmonds. But weekly service ultimately proved insufficient for the citizens, and the office closed in 1905.
Islandale received a post office in 1910, in anticipation of the great Lopez land boom. Believing that the island would become a weekend playground for hoards of visitors arriving by steamer from Seattle, hundreds of lots were platted in the area. But the boom never materialized, and the post office folded in 1917.
The combination of improved roads, a proliferation of automobiles, and Rural Free Delivery marked the beginning of the end of satellite facilities, and, one by one, the neighborhood post offices closed. Port Stanley’s routes were transferred to the main Lopez office in 1940, and Richardson followed in 1953.