Rural Free Delivery begins

Westminster
October 6, 1896

Four letter carriers, including Joshua Corbin and his horse “Harry”, begin free daily delivery of the mail from Westminster to the rest of Carroll County. They are the first government-sponsored “guinea pigs” to test Rural Free Delivery county-wide in the U.S.


Corbin delivers about 30 pieces of mail a day. He and his colleagues are so successful that U.S. Post Office makes RFD official in 1899.

For More Information

Smithsonian National Postal Museum 

Historical Society of Carroll County 

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Poole and Hunt Foundry becomes an industrial hub

The Poole and Hunt Foundry and Machine Works, opened in 1854, makes construction in the US Capitol possible, specifically the dome and the House and Senate wings. Poole and Hunt becomes an industrial hub with 700 employees on the Jones Falls after the Civil War.

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Land Recognition

We acknowledge the enduring presence of many American Indian tribes who once lived in Maryland and who now, having lost their lands, live in a diaspora. Read more.

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