During the 19th century the postal system was the primary means for passing news along. The post office was a general meeting place and “one of the most reliable places of entertainment while the mail was being opened.” Built in 1833, the Paw Paw Post Office was the first frame building in Naper’s Settlement. People would gather by the paw paw trees around Postmaster Alexander Howard’s white frame house to pick up mail and listen to a neighbor read aloud from the newspaper just in from the East Coast.
This song by contemporary musician Amy Lowe describes the Paw Paw Post Office:
We could hear the mail coach approaching
We could hear the driver blowing his horn
And people gather ‘round the Paw Paw Post Office
To wait for a letter to opened from a loved one back home
News would be discussed
By all the folks gathered ‘round
Neighbors greetin’ neighbor
Whenever the mail came to town
Alexander Howard was the station agent
A store keeper and a merchant, too
A postmaster, federal government employee
Usually the first to find out the important news
CHORUS: News would be discussed
By all the folks gathered ‘round
Neighbor greetin’ neighbor
Whenever the mail came to town
Alexander Howard handed out a New York paper
To a gentleman with a good pair of lungs
Who would climb on top of a dry good box
Cover to cover, read that paper out loud to everyone
CHORUS
Debates heated up during election time
Two papers came, two readers were assigned
They’d stand on their own box, read opposing views
Each party listened to their own political news
CHORUS
(Repeat first verse)
Couldn’t wait for a letter
From a loved one, from a loved one, from a loved one back home