Lea County Post Office History
This Project made possible by James W. White
Transcribed by C. W. Barnum
Return to Lea County Main Page

Lea County Post Offices
Arranged by date of establishment

Mail Transportation 
in Lea County

The first mail route was established, in what is now Lea County, with the opening of the Swamp Post office in 1894. The route was probably a two or three day a week special supply route out of the Carlsbad Post Office. This route was abolished when the post office closed in 1897. The same road was likely used when a three day a week route was established to provide mail to the newly opened Monument Post Office in 1900.
Monument became the hub for mail delivery in the area. When the Knowles Post Office was established in 1904, a route from Monument provided the mail. This route continued on to Plainview when that office opened in 1907. There were four post offices established in the area in 1908. To provide mail to Lovington, the route from Carlsbad was extended through Knowles. A new route from Bronco, Texas, carried the mail twice a week to Ranger Lake. The Nadine Post Office received mail from Monument three, days a week and Pearl was added to the route between Carlsbad and Monument.
Six more post offices were established in Lea County in 1909. All of these new offices received their mail twice a week. The Tatum, Scott and King Post Offices were added- to the route out of Lovington. A new route from Plainview provided the mail to Midway and a new route from Monument delivered the mail to Eunice and Henry.
In 1909, the roads had been improved enough to allow the first automobile to be used between Carlsbad and Lovington. The service did not immediately improve since the frequency of the route remained three days a week. Lovington became the transfer point for mail going to the post offices in the northern part of the county. The route provided service to these offices twice a week. Two special supply routes were established out of Texas in 1910 to provide mail to newly opened post offices. One, out of Bronco, delivered mail to the Pioneer Post Office and the other, out of Kermit, provided service to Jal. A special supply route was established out of the Nadine Post Office to go to Hobbs.
The establishment of the Caprock Post Of f ice in 1916 created a need for another mail route. Since this settlement was. located in what would be the northwestern corner of the county, a temporary Special Supply Route was created out of the Roswell Post Office. This route was later changed to a permanent route.
The route from Brownsville Texas, through Bronco, was changed with the closing of the Warren Post Office in 1923 to terminate at the Tatum Post Office. The route continued to provide mail to the Gladiola office that had been added to the route in 1919. Except for adjustments for newly established or discontinued offices, the routes remained the same until the completion of the Texas-New Mexico Railroad in 1930. Although this new railroad did not provide Railway Post Office (RPO) service, it did deliver mail in closed pouches to Jal, Eunice, Hobbs and Lovington.
Major changes were made to the Star Routes serving the county. 
A route was established between Clovis and Hobbs to provide mail exchanges with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe and the Texas-New Mexico Railroads. This route carried mail to Crossroads, Tatum, McDonald, Lovington and Hobbs. The route from Roswell was extended to Hobbs and carried mail to the offices between Roswell and Hobbs. The route from Carlsbad became a direct to Hobbs. Hobbs had now become the hub for mail transportation in the southeastern corner of the state. A Star Route from Artesia to Loco Hills was extended to Lovington in 1939 to provide mail to the Buckeye Post Office. The Maljamar Post Office was added to this route when it opened in 1943. In the 1950's, the Post Office Department extended this route into Hobbs and eliminated the short route between Lovington and Hobbs.
The importance of Hobbs as the hub for the transportation became greater around 1940 when it was included as a stop for Air Mail Route 29. This air route served the larger cities between El Paso, Texas and Denver, Colorado. This did not change the Star Routes that were already in place. The Texas-New Mexico Railroad mail service was discontinued in the late 1940s. The Post Office Department extended the Carlsbad to Hobbs Star Route into Texas to replace the rail service.
ZIP Codes were created in 1963 and a nationwide campaign began to have the public include the code in their addresses. Roswell became the Sectional Center Facility (SCF) responsible for the processing and delivery of mail within the 882 ZIP Code area. This included all of the offices in Lea County except Crossroads. Due to the great distances of these offices from Roswell, the existing routes from Carlsbad, Artesia, Clovis and Roswell remained in place. Additional routes were added from Roswell to Lovington and Hobbs. The routes from Texas to Hobbs, Lovington and Tatum remained with the exception of the route from Pecos to Hobbs. The mail provided by this route was then routed through Midland.
These routes provided mail service to all of the offices in Lea County except those south of Hobbs. A Highway Contract Route (a new name for the Star Routes) was established from Hobbs to Jal and delivered the mail to the offices in between. The Buckeye Post Office was dropped from the Artesia route and a short HCR was established out of Lovington to provide mail service. This transportation has remained in place with the exception of small changes due to the discontinuance of offices. The arrival times and frequencies have varied some due to service needs.

Postmasters

BEAUTY
Anna A. Hall August 10, 1916
Rufus A. Hall January 19, 1918

BENNETT
Callie C. Marshall April 19, 1940
Cleo Pauline Galle (act) January 15, 1945 
Annette D. Murray August 4, 1945
Doris H. Rose February 8, 1951

BUCKEYE

CAPROCK
Lillian Crossland January 21, 1916
Joseph M. Cunningham February 4, 1928
Alfred J. Rushing September 1, 1933 
Harry J. Rushing February 8, 1941
Ada E. Hunter July 9, 1914
Discontinued March 15, 1919
Jessie May Cooper December 15, 1922

COOPER
Ada E. Hunter July 9, 1914
Discontinued - March 15, 1919
Jessie May Cooper December 15, 1922

CROSSROADS

EUNICE

GLADIOIA
Fannye Gae Bonds January 17, 1929
Ruby F. Marley May 9, 1936
Retha 0. Burnes October 9, 1947
Tom R. Wood (acting) March 16, 1948
Marguerite H. Cox August 25, 1949     

Henry

HUMBLE CITY

JAL

JENKINS
William L. Jenkins January 21, 1910
Mary E. Blanchard December 6, 1913
William R. Blanchard August 12, 1921

KING
Mary S. Clendennen July 10, 1909

KNOWLES

LEA
Ellen P. Singleton September 27, 1929

LOVINGTON

MALJAMAR

McDONALD

MICHO
George G. McWhirter September 15, 1920

MIDWAY
Roy W. Syfrett June 23, 1909
John B. Lewis July 27, 1912
William L. Covey May 13, 1914
Jasper M. Moreman March 29, 1915
William M. Anderson June 1, 1916

MONUMENT