For decades the railroad was the lifeline for Eastabuchie. Telephone and other communications would arrive later. In fact, in October 1896, The Greenville Times reported the arrival of the long distance telephone. "In a week or ten days a contract will be let to the lowest bidder for the building of a telephone line from Meridian to Hattiesburg, a distance of nearly 100 miles. The shares are valued at $250 each, and twelve shared have been subscribed for. The shareholders think the amount subscribed is sufficient to put the line in operation. Parties in the following towns will have a phone: Hattiesburg, Eastabuchie, Melrose, Ellisville, Laurel, Heidelberg, Vosburg, Pachuta, Enterprise, and Meridian." [1]
Still from Library of Congress video (linked in text) showing mail bag transfer by train.
The post office of Eastabuchie was established November 13, 1883 [2], and mail was delivered by train to small towns all along the tracks. The work of delivering the mail by train was actually quite dangerous. Between 1877 and 1896, 94 mail clerks were killed and 821 seriously injured in the line of duty.[3] Clerks could fall from trains, catch their arms on the transfer equipment, or be injured in fires or collisions.
In Eastabuchie, Charles L. Thatch was the first postmaster followed by Craven P. Fairchild who took on the role 5 December 1890. Miss Kate J. Fairley took the position 29 January 1891 and appears to have been reappointed under her married name Kate J. Bonner. The next postmasters (documented through 1971) and the dates they were confirmed were as follows:
Mary L. Merrell 30 December 1897
Minnie Clark 20 October 1915
Richard G. Joiner 15 September 2917
Attie M Jones 17 January 1920
Nannie Lee Meador 30 April 1943 [4]
A diagram of Bubb's Mail Bag Catcher and Deliverer.
The mail was typically transferred using a method that exchanged large sacks of mail hanging on hooks at designated stations. The mail to be delivered was thrown off the train while outgoing mail was snatched from the hook. An example of this can be seen on this Library of Congress video filmed in 1903. Various means of attachments were used over the years, including the one designed by Jacob Bubb, secretary and assistant manager of the Eureka Lumber Company in Eastabuchie [5]. Bubb's design, shown, provided a different way for spring clips to hold the bag on its hanger so that a train could remain in motion while retrieving the mail. Bubb's design was patented in September 1908 [6].
Mast head of the Canadian Patent Office Record, 1908.
In Eastabuchie, the early post office was located just off the tracks on the side opposite Highway 11 near the current intersection with Eastabuchie Road.
[1] Long Distance Telephone. The Greenville Times. 14 October 1896.
[3] Romanski, F.J. (2005). The Fast Mail: A History of the U.S. Railway Mail Service. Prologue Magazine, 37(3).
[4] US Appointments of Postmasters, on ancestry.com
[5] Personal Notes. The St. Louis Lumberman, volume 42, number 7, page 71. goo.gl/882XuS
[6] No. 114,300. Mail Bag Catcher and Deliverer. The Canadian Patent Office Record, 36(7): 2424. 31 July 1908.