Wartime
Wednesday:
Mr. Walker and the Postal Code System
In these days of email, electronic billing, and online
bill paying, it may be difficult for some to realize that at one point in our
history over twenty-eight billion pieces of mail were sorted each year without
benefit of zip codes. By 1943, that number had increased to thirty-three
million pieces of mail. In addition, the ranks of postal workers were depleted
as men left for the armed forces, either by enlistment or draft. As a result,
hordes of incoming inexperienced clerks filled the vacancies, slowing down the
sorting and delivery process.
Postmaster General Frank C. Walker created the postal
code system to alleviate the issue. A lawyer by training, Walker opened a
practice with this brother until 1913 when he was elected to a term as a
Montana state representative. He then enlisted in the Army during WWI and saw
action on the Western Front. After the war, he returned home to his law firm
until 1925 when Walker moved to New York City where he managed and was general
counsel for a chain of movie theatres owned by his cousin.
It is curious that he appears to be apolitical until
1931 when he co-founded the Roosevelt for President Society. I could find no
record of his interest in politics or any sort of life-changing event that might
cause him to enter the political arena. A year later, he became treasurer of the
Democratic National Committee, and two years after that he was appointed
Secretary of the National Emergency Council (a New Deal agency). By 1940, he
was Postmaster General.
The one and two digit postal code system Walker
devised was primarily implemented for large cities and heavily populated areas,
creating 124 zones; e.g., “Minneapolis 16, Minnesota or “Birmingham 7, Alabama”
where numbers sixteen and seven indicated a particular zone within those
cities. The codes caught on quickly and remained in place until 1963 with the
introduction of the five digit zip code (Zone Improvement Plan).
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