Welcome to the Illinois Postal History Society (IPHS) website and archive. Here you'll find an index and excerpts from IPHS flagship publication, the Illinois Postal Historian. There are also Illinois postal history exhibits and occasional news of our society activities, as well as tips on researching and collecting Illinois postal history.
Announcements:
IPHS 2021 Calendar:
The Society is carefully watching stamp show reopenings and will soon make plans for in-person meetings in 2021.
Illinois Postal History Items: Mason City precancelled postal stationery Precancelled postal cards are BEYOND rare. Much more so than one would expect (myself included). pic.twitter.com/5xvXHbH4ru — Charles Epting (@charleslepting) February 17, 2021
Palos
What do these stamps and postal items have to do with Illinois postal history? The name of Palos Township, in Cook County, southwest of Chicago, is named for Palos de la Frontera, Andalusia, Spain. Three municipalities within Palos Township bear this name: Palos Park, Palos Hills and Palos Heights. Within this township is buried remnants of world's first man-made, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in motion as Chicago Pile 1, famously conducted by scientists under the direction of Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago in 1942. Palos Township is within Illinois 3rd congressional district, who controversially named a neo-Nazi Holocaust denier to the Republican ballot for United States House of Representatives in 2018. ![]() ![]() ![]() Illinois Statehood 1818-2018
![]() Illinois Wheel of Fortune Cancellations exhibit by Larry Rausch
![]() The Dunning substation (Chicago) post office made the cover of the American Philatelist magazine this month. Once an independent post office, Dunning, IL became part of Chicago in 1894. The office was renamed the Dunning sub-station. You can read the entire article about sub-stations around the USA as the AP feature for November 2016.
1857 Jefferson, ILL manuscript cancel
Galena post office illustration (19th cent) from Kathy Johnson's exhibit on Galena. Recent post office photo of still-functioning post office from Google Maps.
This monument at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago is a US Postal Service train entering his final tunnel. pic.twitter.com/ceGRRhee3R
County maps from the early days and pre-Illinois. Click here for full website.
Early Chicago History Covers at Peoria
by Charles Wonderlin
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