First Postage Stamps In America

Itmay come as a surprise that the first postage stamps issued in the United States were not produced by the government, but rather by a private company. Disappointed with the efficiency (or lack thereof) of the United States post office, Henry Thomas Windsor and Alexander M. Greig founded the City Despatch Post in New York City in February 1842. Their business model of delivering mail within the city was so successful that by August of the same year the company was purchased by the government and reorganized as the carrier department of the New York City post office. The City Despatch Post’s stamps came just 21 months after Great Britain issued the world’s first stamps, and predate the issuance of stamps by the federal government by over five years.

The first postage stamps in America were issued by private companies, including New York’s City Despatch Post (left) and the Philadelphia Despatch Post (right). Private posts would continue to operate in competition (and sometimes harmony) with the government for decades.