Does anyone remember when the US Post Office changed from the brown or olive drab color to the blue we see today. Thanks in advance.
“the old color scheme of black chassis, olive drab body and cream
colored body stripe (vehicles) gave way to a new red, white and blue scheme in 1954” according to book called U S Mail; the story of the U S Postal Service
For my transition reference, I keep a complete 1958 set of World Book encyclopedias. The red and blue mail box of the mid-1950s i shown on page P-6524.
Flags- 48 stars before 1959…
I’ve got slightly different information from the Rensselaer Model Railroad Society’s website. (The folks who bring you the well-known New England, Berkshire & Western RR)
One of the contributors to that site’s Guide to Scenery Structure & Details, John McIlwaine, contacted the US Postal Service Historian’s Office in researching this issue. From the information he got from the USPS Historian, mail boxes and mail trucks switched from the olive drab scheme to red, white & blue on July 4, 1955. After 1970, the blue scheme was adopted.
By the way, the Rensselaer Model Railroad Society website is a gold mine of information. You can get there at: http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/index.asp Some of the information is only available by becoming a member of Rensselaer Railroad Heritage Site (the website) but the fee is pretty nominal. You can join for one month only if you like. The information is very extensive for someone modeling the 1940’s and 1950’s, and a lot of it is useful for other time periods as well. For instance, I’m interested in the late '20s, early '30s but I’ve found a lot of value in only one week of membership. It’s definitely been worth my while so far.
-Ed