The Rival Post Offices of Haller City and Arlington
Postal inspectors find two town sites competing for a single post office in Snohomish County.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In a report to the general superintendent of the railway mail service, assistant superintendent F. W. Vaile writes: 'The post offices of Haller City and Arlington, Snohomish County, are distant from each other only 3,200 feet. There are good roads connecting the offices and nothing to mark the boundary between the two places. These are two rival townsites, but so close to each other that there is but need for one post office. Haller City is not recognized by the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad Company, and that office is supplied by messenger service to Arlington station, although the office is only 40 feet from the railroad tracks. Haller City people take the train at Arlington.' It was recommended that messenger service be discontinued or that the postmaster at Haller City arrange for delivery without expense to the government. Instead, the office was discontinued.
“These are two rival townsites, but so close to each other that there is but need for one postoffice.”
This dispute reflects the hyper-localized boosterism of 1890s Washington, where land speculators vied to define town boundaries to lure investment. Today, the town of Haller City has been entirely absorbed by the modern city of Arlington, a common fate for the many small 'paper towns' that once dotted the Snohomish valley.
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