POST OFFICES
by Robert A. Given

 Canada Post issued 4 new 46 cent stamps on April 28th showing rural mailboxes.  Rural mail delivery in Canada resulted from the exhaustive efforts of George Wilcox (1846- 1937) of Oxford County.  Amara Wilcox lived in what became Islington in the 1830s and donated the original sites for the school, cemetery and Methodist chapel on Dundas Street. He had sons Truman and Frend.  The Wilcox family moved to Norwich in Oxford County.
 
Truman Wilcox's son George never understood why the family left a good home on Dundas with its 4-horse stage coaches loaded with passengers and mail passing by to live beside a trail in the forest. On a visit to see his son in Michigan George learned how wonderful rural free delivery was. On returning to Canada George began a campaign for similar service here. Rejected by both the government and opposition of the day, he began a letter-writing campaign directed at newspapers and politicians.
 
In his History of Rural Mail Delivery in Canada up to 1918 (revised and reprinted by Canada Post in 1975) Wilcox notes that he sent "as many as 40 or 50 manuscript copies" to as many newspapers...to get my...articles read by as many people as possible." Finally, Postmaster General Lemieux announced his intention to establish rural delivery so Canadians could get their mail "without the necessity of sending after it to the village post office".
 
Rural Mail delivery in Canada began October 10, 1908 with a 37-box mail delivery and collection run between Hamilton and Ancaster. The Post Office Department had imposed certain conditions. Delivery was established only on existing stage coach routes. Fifty per cent of the eligible residents had to sign a petition and agree to purchase a mail box known as the King Edward.  The mailbox had to be located within easy reach of rural couriers so that delivery and collection could be done without dismounting from the horse or carriage.
 
After abandoning the mailbox distribution business in April 1964, Canada Post established specifications for the manufacture of rural Mailboxes.  Today, metal, wood and high-impact plastic mailboxes are readily available in retail stores.  It is the "fancy" mailboxes that are shown on the new stamps!
 
Truman Wilcox was appointed postmaster for the first post office in Etobicoke in 1832. It was on the west side of the Humber at Dundas Street. He resigned in 1840, was succeeded by Daniel Perry, then by William Gamble of The Old Mill in 1841, and by Frederick A. Howland in 1864. It was called Etobicoke Post Office.

In 1873 Lambton Mills Post Office opened in the general store and office of Howland's flour mill on Dundas just east of the Humber.  Lambton Mills Post Office closed in Phillips General Store on Dundas west of the Humber in 1939.
 
Etobicoke Post Office opened at an unspecified location on September 1, 1899 with George Troyer as postmaster.  He was succeeded by Mrs Martha Barton in 1908, Joseph Sanford in 1913, William Wright in 1915, D. Lockhart in 1920, A.B. Grundy in 1923 and Thomas Hanna in 1927.  This office may have ended in 1946 as the Queensway Post Office.
 
Today Etobicoke Post Office "A" is at 145 The West Mall, "B" at 2110 Kipling, "C" at 1686 Albion Road and "D" at 4918 Dundas even with philatelic services.  Toronto's first Post Office and Museum is at 260 Adelaide Street East.
 
The first post office in Etobicoke was called Etobicoke Post Office and it was opened in 1832 by Truman Wilcox on Dundas in what became Lambton Mills. The second post office in Etobicoke was called Humber Post Office and it was opened in 1842 by Robert Bowman on Albion Road at Steeles Avenue in what became Clairville.  He was the local storekeeper and treasurer of the Albion Road Company which was organized in 1846 to continue the Weston plank toll road across Etobicoke and then to the north-east.
 
John Gardhouse became the Humber postmaster in 1856. He came to Etobicoke in 1837 with wife Isabella and 5 children, acquired 360 acres west and north of Sharon church cemetery on Rexdale Boulevard opposite the Woodbine Race Track, and built a 2-storey log house in the woods! He began to breed  horses, cattle and sheep. John Gardhouse was one of the original trustees of the chapel before 1842 and played a leading role in establishing Highfield School in 1845. Over the years the family grew and played leading roles: 4 were members of Etobicoke council including 3 reeves and a deputy reeve. Others had important positions in York County and Metro Toronto.
 
Other postmasters at Humber were Thomas Bell appointed 1861, John Linton 1871, James Robinson 1881, James Linton 1888, Frank Hewgill 1897 and Mark Ezard 1912.
 
Two new post offices opened on July 6,1851: Thistletown at the corner of Albion Road and Islington Avenue.  The village was originally called St. Andrews but there already was a St. Andrews Post Office in Cornwall Township. Summerville was the other post office to open that day.  It was on Dundas Street at Etobicoke Creek. Mississauga's Heritage published by that city in 1983 stated John Silverthorn had a blacksmith shop there in 1816. Later there were Silverthorn mills upstream and Markland Woods was Silverthorn's bush.  Isaac Wilcox built a stone blacksmith shop in 1867 and it was still being used in 1958. A number of Etobicoke councillors got their mail at Summerville. Thistletown and Summerville were tied for third place in the race to have a post office to serve Etobicoke.

 
The Official Postal Guide for 1890 lists offices at Humber, Humber Bay, Islington, Lambton Mills, Highfield, Thistletown, Mimico, Summerville and Etobicoke but without a postmaster's name.