The mail must go through

Post office history is a hamlet’s genealogy, By Nick Troiano MILLRIFT — Tucked away atop a mountain adjacent to the Delaware River, the Millrift post office has been serving the residents of the small town for the past 157 years. The post office’s long history is certainly a piece of Pike County’s own, and it is truly something to marvel at considering not too much has changed in its operation over the past century and a half. Back in its early days, the post office was named “Saw Mill Rift.” As the story goes, a saw mill was located on the river bank, and raftsmen who were thoroughly impressed by the rapids, known as rifts, referred to the place as “the Mill rift.” This remained the name until United States Post Office policy became such that all post office names of two or more words had to be shortened. That is precisely how the current “Millrift” came to be. Although, as local historian Doug Hay points out, “some of us stubborn locals still list our mailing address as Mill Rift as a protest.” The post office was established in 1850 by Isaac Wintermute, who also owned the town’s general store. Near the turn of the century, the post office was passed down to his nephew, James F. Molony. Hay recalled an article written in a national magazine about Molony entitled, “The Man with 17 Jobs.” Molony, quite the jack of all trades as history would have it, also served as telegraph agent, schoolteacher, Erie Railroad ticket agent, township secretary, and real estate developer, along with many other duties and occupations of the town. He used to live on the second floor of the building. George Compton, who was the town taxidermist at the time, took over as postmaster following Molony’s death around 1940. Mildred Pierce, Kathy Hild, and Jaqueline Padgett also served as postmasters since then. In the mid-20th century, the mail used to arrive by train. The post office is conveniently located only about 20 yards away from a railroad. A device with a hook at the end allowed a bag of outgoing mail to be picked up by a train so that it never had to stop. The same device was used to catch a bag of incoming mail from the train as it passed. Bob Miller, the current postmaster and the first to ever live outside of Millrift, took the reigns of the historical institution five years ago. The post office still operates in the very same building as it did in 1850, but it now serves some 115 residents. Millrift residents all have post office boxes, a service provided to them free of charge; mail is not delivered to each house. The 18340 zip code is one of the smallest in the entire state, but Miller manages to keep busy, especially since the recent purchase of the post office’s first computer. As far as his particular job, he said it has his “seal of approval,” and he enjoys it. He commented that he is usually in tune with the news and gossip of the small town, particularly since he typically sees and greets (by name) each resident at least once a week. “It’s almost like being a part of everyone’s family,” Miller said. Miller envisions mail service at Millrift continuing as long as possible unless the post office decides to do something nationally to consolidate these smaller offices. The horse and buggy of the 1850’s and the locomotive of the 1960’s have long since been replaced by that familiar white postal truck, but the post office’s role in the close-knit community has remained and will continue to be nearly the same.