Sand Point beginnings: Pontiac Post Office opens on January 18, 1890.

  • By Greg Lange
  • Posted 5/16/2001
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 3280
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On January 18, 1890, the Pontiac Post Office is established on the west shore of Lake Washington, on Sand Point, a future neighborhood of Seattle.

The post office was initially located along the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks at a brick manufacturing firm. Charles I. Fox Jr. distributed the mail from his employer, the Pontiac Brick and Tile Company. He served until April 18, 1892, when Edward F. Lee was appointed postmaster.

Lee had a shipyard at Sand Point where he constructed steamships that plied Lake Washington. On June 30, 1909, he retired and the Pontiac Post Office closed and the United States Post Office Department sent the mail to the Yesler Post Office for distribution.

The City of Seattle annexed the Pontiac area after World War II.


Sources:

Guy Reed Ramsey, "Postmarked Washington, 1850-1960," Microfilm (Olympia: Washington State Library, February, 1966), p. 627.


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