This post is the latest in an unintended “series” about the U.S. mail and is a bit of a follow-up on one I published back in 2013 about the 50th anniversary of the ZIP code. In that post, I mentioned the system the Postal Service used prior to the introduction of the ZIP code in the 1960s. At the time, I didn’t have a good visual illustration, but thankfully, the Library has digitized a number of old telephone books, and in one, I found just such an image.
In that 2013 post, I used the example of Zone 18 in Washington, D.C., which became ZIP code 20018. The image below is the postal delivery zone map from the 1946 telephone book for Washington, D.C. where Zone 18 is visible in the northeastern part of the city and marked as Woodridge Sta. The 1963 telephone book still shows the zone system, but the appearance of Mr. ZIP, the character created for the advertising campaign, indicates that the new ZIP code system was clearly on the horizon.
Today, Washington has more ZIP codes than it had postal zones, but the shadow of the old system remains. For more on the mail, you can read my previous posts about the Christmas mailing season and house numbers, but if you want to investigate ZIP codes on your own, the Library has national ZIP code directories to consult.
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