Auburn Post Office

A history of the Auburn Post Office

Though over the years, Auburn has lost many services it once boasted, it can still claim its own post office and postmaster at a time when some larger communities like Lucknow have lost theirs.
Cathy Carter operates the post office in an addition to her Goderich Street home. She moved the post office from the old Orange Lodge next door shortly after taking over as postmaster in April 1998.
The post office had been in the Orange Hall since 1968, during the time when Kenneth Scott was postmaster. That building housed the post office for more than 30 years during the term of Scott and his successor Pearl Plunkett who was post master from Oct. 1978 to March 1998.
Scott had taken over from Alfred Rollinson who was postmaster from April 1928 to Aug. 1958. Rollinson operated the post office in his harness shop on the north side of Goderich St. (main street) until he renovated the building in 1955 when the entire building was dedicated to the post office.
Rollinson’s long service was recognized in 1953 on Queen Elizabeth’s coronation with a medal from Buckingham Palace.
Prior to that the post office had been located for many years in a store at the corner of Turnberry and Goderich Sts. where it had been moved in 1890 by Duncan Munro who was post master from April 1884 to Jan. 1908. He was succeeded by Mrs. M.A. Munro until Jan. 1926.
Before this move, the post office had been on the site of the old evaporator plant, down the hill at the corner of Goderich St. and Maitland Terrace and was operated by Samuel Caldwell from October 1872 to April 1884.
The first post office, called Manchester, was located on the west side of the river. The first postmaster was William Garrett from Jan. 1854 to Dec. 1858.
Later the post office was moved to a log building on the north side of John St. between Egmont and King.
Other early postmasters were William Papst, April 1859 to Feb. 1860; John Landon Read, June to September 1860; John McRae, January to March 1861; James Sutherland, Jan. 1863 to Feb. 1871 and William Graham, April 1871 to Oct. 1872.
In the early years the mail came from Goderich, brought over from Carlow by a man named Johnston. After the London, Huron and Bruce Railway was built through Blyth in 1876, the mail was brought from Blyth by James Moore. With the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1907, the mail came directly to Auburn, with the name of the post office being changed from Manchester at that time. The mail continued to be delivered by train until the end of passenger train service in 1955. After that the mail came  to Blyth by truck and Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Bradnock picked it up and brought it to Auburn.
Beginning in the 1960s the mail came from Clinton. Today a truck route from London delivers mail to Auburn, Clinton, Blyth and Goderich and other area communities in the morning, then picks up outgoing mail in the afternoon.
Auburn’s rural route deliveries were established in 1914.