Rural Mail Carriers exhibit needs community support

For the past four years, the Yellow Trail Museum has been working to find a way to return the Indiana Rural Letter Carriers' Museum to the public in Hope.

That original museum was built as a small "log cabin-like" structure in our town square in 1975, as a joint project between the Hope Merchants' Association and the Indiana Rural Letter Carriers' Association. The structure had large windows and was lighted 24 hours a day to allow visitors to our square to view the unique artifacts inside that had been donated by past rural carriers or families of past carriers from all over the state.

Unfortunately the building had no climate control, so by 2015, the building was in poor condition and some of the artifacts inside were beginning to feel the effects of the conditions. The Hope Town Council decided the building needed to be removed, but there was no funding for a new structure to house the collection. The artifacts, had been under the care of the Yellow Trail Museum for several years, and it was decided that museum should take charge of those artifacts.

The artifacts have been in safe storage for nearly four years as the Yellow Trail Museum has been working to find a way to bring the collection back to the town square and the public view.

We are now pleased to announce that on Monday, June 17, 2019, the Yellow Trail Museum was able to purchase an empty building on the west side of the Hope Town Square that stands right beside the museum property. Thanks to many personal donations, that building was purchased to be used to house the "Letter Carriers' Museum." By that afternoon, discussions were being held about how the museum could ever afford the necessary renovation and repairs needed to make that building work.

A few days later some members of the Yellow Trail Museum attended the State Convention of the Indiana Rural Letter Carriers' Association in Indianapolis. We had been asked to set up a display about the "Mail Carriers' Museum," and to update the members on what was taking place in Hope.

On the last day of the convention, to our surprise we were asked to step into what had been a closed meeting. It was then announced that the body had voted to change their constitution to add a statement that the IRLCA would make a yearly donation of $5,000 to the "Letter Carriers' Museum" for renovation and maintenance. The first year's donation will be used to help us gain matching funds from other sources to get the renovation underway. After that first year, the funds will allow us to pay utilities and other expenses to keep that building in a condition that should make everyone proud.

Hope has the honor of having the longest continuous rural free delivery in the state. When the Post Master General established a few experimental routes to try rural delivery, back in 1896, Hope was among the earliest set up. From its first day on October 15, 1896, until today, the route has not ended or even been temporarily stopped, as were many. Our honor is the reason we were chosen as the site of that museum.