The postmasters — the federal government's local face

1820–1990 · THE PATRONAGE PLUM, HELD FOR SEVENTY YEARS OF PRESIDENTS

The first postmaster, three ways: The record gives Fort Wayne's first postmaster three starts, and all three are printed. The Political Graveyard's roster of the office opens with Benjamin B. Kercheval in 1820, followed by Samuel Hanna, 1820–25. The Fort Wayne News's "First Things in Fort Wayne" series (30 March 1907) states flatly that "the first postmaster for the city of Fort Wayne was Samuel Hanna, who was appointed by the government in 1822," keeping the office a few feet east of the later Freiburger block. The History Center's biography of Hanna says he was "named the first postmaster" with the formation of Allen County in 1823. What is not in dispute is the man: Hanna — merchant, judge, canal promoter, the town's founding booster — held the mail at the settlement's beginning, and was succeeded by Henry J. Rudisill, who kept the office on Columbia Street. Hanna also sat as associate judge of the circuit court; in the 1820s the offices were few and the men were the same.

The succession: After Hanna and Rudisill (1831–41) the office passed in the rhythm of national politics: Smalwood Noel (1841–45); William Stewart (1845–49), chosen by President Polk in 1845 and later twice mayor; Samuel Stophlet (1849–53); John G. Maier (1853–61); Moses Drake Jr. (1861–68), appointed in the first weeks of the Lincoln administration; Peter P. Bailey (1868–69); John J. Kamm (1869–77); Frederick W. Keil (1877–85); William Kaough (1885–89); Cecilius R. Higgins (1889–93); William W. Rockhill (1893–97) — the same Rockhill who, as city clerk, had compiled the printed roster of city officers in the 1887 charter volume; William D. Page (1897–1906); Robert B. Hanna (1906–15); Edward C. Miller (1915–22); Harry W. Baals (1922–31), who would be elected mayor in 1935 and hold that office, in two administrations, for some fifteen years; Ernest J. Gallmeyer (1931–34); Lew G. Ellingham (1934–39); Clyde F. Driesbach (1939–51); Albert N. Smith (1951–65); and Eugene J. Gabriel (1965–90), whose twenty-five years carried the office across the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which took postmasterships out of politics altogether. Gabriel is the last postmaster in the compiled roster used here; the career-era postmasters after 1990 have not been compiled for this section, and the omission is named rather than papered over.

What the office was: For a century and a half the postmaster was the most visible federal servant in Fort Wayne and the job was a spoil of national elections — Stewart's appointment was President Polk's, Drake's was Lincoln's, and the turnovers of 1841, 1845, 1861, 1885, 1893 and 1897 track the changes of administration in Washington almost to the month. Allen Hamilton, the first sheriff, held it 1825–31 alongside his other county roles. The office also anchored the federal building's daily life: the 1897 city directory prints Postmaster Rockhill's establishment in full — assistant postmaster, clerks, carriers, and a custodian force that included a janitor, a fireman, two laborers and a charwoman, the whole federal household on one page.

Sources:

1. The Political Graveyard, "Fort Wayne, Indiana — Postmasters at Fort Wayne, 1820–1990" (politicalgraveyard.com) — the succession and its dates; the roster is headed "may be incomplete."
2. The Fort Wayne News, "First Things in Fort Wayne," 30 March 1907, p. 5, via the Allen County Genealogical Society (acgsi.org) — Hanna appointed 1822; Rudisill's Columbia Street office.
3. The History Center, "Samuel Hanna: The Founder of Fort Wayne" (History Center Notes & Queries) — Hanna named first postmaster at the county's formation.
4. National Archives postmaster appointment records, transcribed at genealogytrails.com (Allen County postmasters) — appointment dates: Noel 31 May 1841; Stophlet 22 March 1849; Drake 28 March 1861; Bailey 11 November 1868; Page 24 July 1897; Baals 11 March 1922; Ellingham 28 February 1934; Driesbach 19 June 1939; Smith 31 August 1951; Gabriel 3 June 1965.
5. Griswold, Pictorial History of Fort Wayne (1917) — Polk's choice of Stewart, 1845. R. L. Polk & Co., Fort Wayne city directory, 1897 — the post office's staff and custodian force.