Cisco, Cisco, Cisco, part 10 – Cisco Post Offices

: Cisco, IL. Sep. 11, 2019

I’m trying to build the N scale replica of the town of Cisco, Utah circa 1970. Accordingly, it’s my routine to search “Cisco” on the web, but it goes wrong most of the times bothered by “San Francisco” or “Cisco Systems”. Sometimes, “Cisco, Texas” gets in my way. Thus, I was wondering how many “Cisco”s are there in the United States. My recent research during these Stay Home days revealed some of them. Let me introduce these places named Cisco as a sideshow for my Town of Cisco posts.


A post office generally bears the name of the place it exists. Accordingly, it may not strange bringing historical post offices up here as the material for our further research.


Historical United States Official Postal Guide published occasionally and Official Register of the United States published every two years lists several post offices named Cisco.

The 1859 United States Official Postal Guide lists none, but the 1870 United States Official Postal Guide lists the single post office named Cisco at Placer County in California[1]. That's the one we discussed in the previous post.

The 1879 United States Official Postal Guide lists two at
Cisco, Placer, California, and
Cisco, Piatt, Illinois[2].

The 1887 Official Register of the United States lists six Cisco/Cisko Post Offices including new-born Cisco, Utah Post Office[3]. Those are;
Cisco, Placer, CA est. 1866,
Cisco, Piatt, IL, est. 1874,
Cisco, Murray, GA, est. 1881,
Cisco, Eastland, TX, est. 1881,
Cisko, Ritchie, WV, est. 1886, and
Cisco, Emery, UT, est. 1887(Grand County was founded three years later in 1890).

The following Cisco Post Offices appear in the Guides and Registers issued afterward;
Cisco, Livingston, MO, est. 1888,
Cisco, Chowan, NC, est. 1891,
Cisco, Mecklenburg, VA, est. 1893,
Cisco, Mcminn, TN, est. 1901,
Cisco, Magoffin, KY, est. 1902,
Cisco, Carroll, AR, est. 1903,
Cisco, Polk, MN, est. 1904,
Cisco, Vilas, WI, est. 1908, and
Cisco, McCurtain, OK, est. 1913.


We already had overviews of the communities of Cisco, AR, CA, GA, IL, MN, NC, and TX in previous posts. After this, we will continue to see Cisco, KY, MO, OK, TN, WI, VA, and WV: communities without Cisco Station but with Cisco Post Offices.

Rural post offices are mostly too small to identify in the aerial photos. So, the USGS or other historical maps and documents will be the main research materials to extract the historical post offices and the communities of Cisco.

[1] 1870 United States Official Postal Guide, United States Post Office Department;
[2] 1879 United States Official Postal Guide, United States Post Office Department;
[3] 1887 Official Register of the United States, United States Department of the Interior;

: Cisco, UT Sep. 11, 2014
　
　　
筆者がNスケールで復元しようとしているユタ州Ciscoについて調べようとインターネット検索すると、余計なページばかりよく引っ掛かる。最も邪魔なのはSan Francisco、次いで邪魔なのはCisco Systemsに関連するページである。テキサス州にあるCiscoという町に関連するページも結構邪魔だ。一方、お目当てのユタ州Ciscoの町に関連するページなどほとんどない。一体何件の「Cisco」がアメリカにあるのか。


鉄道趣味をもつひとの中には、遠征時に簡易郵便局などに立ち寄り消印を収集するひとがいる。合衆国政府が古くから発行してきた「Official Postal Guide」や「Official Register of the United States」といった刊行物には当時の郵便局一覧が載っている。そこでこれらの刊行物を手掛かりに、列車時刻表には載っていない「Cisco」を趣味的視点から検索してみた。

ユタ州Ciscoの郵便局が開局した1887年の「Official Register of the United States」を検索してみると、ユタ州Ciscoの郵便局を含め６ヶ所のCisco郵便局があることが分かった。また、翌年以降に開局したCisco郵便局が更に９ヵ所あることも分かった。これらCisco郵便局はどんなところにあったのだろう。
　
手掛かりは先に記した政府刊行物。それらに記載されている大凡の住所を頼りに古い地形図を当たる。USGSのウェブページでも古い郵便局の所在地を検索できる。所在地における当時の様相については古い新聞記事も参考になる。以降、その調査結果を記す記事が続く。
　
　
冒頭の画像は、イリノイ州にあるシスコ郵便局。末尾の画像はもちろん我がユタ州シスコ局だ。星条旗、所在地および郵便番号の表記、投函ポストが彼地の郵便局における必須アイテム三点セットである。