Hampton Union, Thursday, June 14, 1962
[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online.]
Hampton’s new post office will be dedicated June 23, 1962, Postmaster Samuel A. Towle announced today.
The new postal facility, located at 363 Lafayette Road, is expected to go into use, Monday, June 25. Present plans call for the moving of equipment from the present post office in Marelli (Depot) Square over the weekend so that the new quarters will be open for business Monday morning.
Several regional postal officials together with Congressman Chester E. Merrow, town and beach officials are expected to attend the dedication ceremony set for 2 p.m.
Among the guests will be Donald P. Steele, regional director, who will serve as spokesman for the Post Office department; D.J. Day, assistant regional director; Paul E. Kelleher, regional real estate manager; and Fred J. Rowe, field service officer for New Hampshire.
Postmaster Towle said the new facility will be a link with a postal system that today has over 45,000 postal installations that handle over two-thirds of the world’s mail. The nation’s 580,000 postal employes handle about 65 billion pieces of mail a year, including over a billion parcels, the postmaster added.
A tremendous increase in Hampton’s mail business was cited by Postmaster Towle who reported that when the present building was first occupied in 1931, the revenue was $12,271.63 as compared with $84,143.18 today.
When a post office was first established in Hampton in 1812 its receipts were too negligible to have been recorded.
The number of employees has increased from five in 1950 to ten persons today. In the 1900’s Hampton has been served by four postmasters prior to Mr. Towle’s service which began October 31, 1955.
Former postmasters and their terms of office since the turn of the century were Ernest G. Cole to 1912, Fred Sanborn 1912 to 1922, Herbert Perkins 1922 to 1934, and Edwin L. Batchelder 1934 to 1955.
commenting on the opening of the new post office, Postmaster Towle said today, “Our patrons will derive more enjoyment from doing business here, their mail will be handled more efficiently and the building with its up-to-date equipment will enable our postal employees to work under the best of conditions.”
City delivery service has been established to all homes in Hampton within the past ten years, parcel post delivery by government truck has been established, and more populous sections of the town are supplied with mail collection boxes, which are collected several times a day, Mr. Towle concluded.