Good Mail

The Smithsonian Postal Museum twitter clued me in, today, to the concept of a “fantasy marking.” As if the mere existence of such a thing were not wonderful enough, this is a pneumatic tube fantasy marking.

“The three line red “N. WESTERN / TUBE STA. / TRANSIT” was not applied by the Chicago Post Office. Rather, it is a fantasy marking applied at some unknown later date. There are four pieces of evidence postal historians used to reach this conclusion. First the style of lettering matches no other known Chicago postal marking. Second, a transit marking without a date or time has no postal usefulness in tracking the mail. This marking has been found only on mail to a few Chicago addresses; Peter Nanni is probably the most common. Finally, the pneumatic tube to the Northwestern Station had been damaged in 1907 when the Army Corps of Engineers blew up the LaSalle Street cable car tunnel in the Chicago River; pneumatic service was not restored until 1909.”

(via Arago: Intra-City Mail)