The one government agency that still reaches nearly every American daily — undeterred by rain, sleet, snow or even gloom of night — turns 250 on Saturday.

Established in 1775, when the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general, the postal service predates the United States. It was launched nearly a year before the colonies declared their break from British rule.

“The country may not even have come into existence but for the Postal Service,” said Stephen Allen Kochersperger, the postal service historian and a former local postmaster.

While it now grapples with concerns over its financial viability in the modern era, the agency has had a long and colorful history that helped shape the nation. It has grown from serving the 13 colonies to delivering more

See Full Page