Next month marks the 65th anniversary of home delivery of mail in the borough of East Greenville.  Before home delivery residents were required 

Home delivery of mail began in 1958 from the East Greenville Post Office at Main and Fourth Streets in the borough.

visit the post office, at Fourth and Main Streets, to pick up their mail.

            Hard to believe that up until 1958 there was no home delivery of mail in the borough.  It took 95 percent of the registered voters in the borough to vote in favor of the service earlier in the year.  After several months of investigation the United States Postal Service approved the request.  Provided, of course, that the residences were equipped with proper mailboxes or drop slots.  The postal services also installed three collection mailboxes in the borough.

            Then Postmaster Wilmer Dimmig named Ray Kuhns to be the first full-time mail carrier in East Greenville.  Eugene Cressman was named as the substitute carrier.  Both were on the list of successful Civil Service applicants.  Kuhns would later go on to become the East Greenville Postmaster in 1965 and Eugene would become a full-time carrier and deliver to the people of East Greenville for 30 years.

            Granted, in 1958 there weren't as many homes in the borough as there are

The first full-time mail carrier was Ray Kuhns of East Green- ville after starting there as a substitute clerk in 1957.  Kuhns was elevated to Post- master in 1965

today, but it must have been a monumental task for the carriers to deliver the mail to all the homes, six days a week.

            According to a report, several public-minded citizens started the petition drive.  Contributing factors for the positive decision of Postal Inspector C. B. Warren included: population figures; satisfactory receipts at the post office; and adequate physical conditions of the town including safe sidewalks and streets.

            The inaugural week of home delivery went well.  Over 90 percent of East Greenville residents made sure they had proper mailboxes or slots.

            There were 675 door-to-door stops each day on the route made by Kuhns and Cressman through the borough (today there are over 1,000).  Postmaster Dimmig reported that he would keep 100–200 boxes in the post office for residents who didn't want home delivery, and the rest would be disposed of.

            In addition to in front of the post office, the other locations for the mail collection boxes included Second and Jefferson streets, Fifth and Jefferson streets, and Fourth and Cherry streets.

            The need for additional collection boxes would continue to be studied.

            Petitioning for home delivery of mail was needed to start the process.  Pennsburg achieved its home delivery service in July 1956.  Red Hill was also selected to receive home delivery at the same time as Pennsburg, but residents there voted it down in heated town hall sessions.  Residents didn't want a Red Hill plan under the Pennsburg Post Office.

This 3-cent stamp was issued in 1958 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of James Monroe, fifth presi- dent of the United States.

           They would wait a little longer to get home delivery.

            Today, the Pennsburg and Red Hill zip codes share the same building on Main St. in Red Hill.