Estevan Post Office
The Estevan Post Office was opened in 1892 with Dr. E.H. Scott as postmaster. It was located in the same building as his drug store which was on the property now used by the Bank of Montreal as a parking lot. He was also mail carrier for the service between the CPR and the post office.
As a druggist, he had been given the authority to practice medicine in the North West Territories. He died in 1900 and his wife carried on as a postmistress for about two years.
She was succeeded by J.D. Hastings in 1902 and he held the position until 1919 when Charles D. Griffith received the appointment. It was 1912 that the post office building on the corner of 4th Street and 13th Avenue was erected. The present building at the corner of 13th Avenue and 3rd Street was erected in 1957 with a 23 x 72 foot extension added in 1967.
Mr. Griffit retired in 1955 and still lives in Estevan. He was widely known throughout Canada because of his active interest in the Canadian Postmaster's Association of which he was secretary for 25 years as well as being editor of the Canadian Postmaster, a monthly publication, which he had developed from a small one sheet bulletin to a magazine of a considerable number of pages.
His sucecsor was Bill Stephens who held the office for six years. He was followed by John Dykun who, in 1963, was moved back to the Calgary District office in the Methods and Standards division.
At that time he was succeeded by Stanley Dyer who came from Stettler, Alberta where he had been postmaster for three years. Mr. Dyer had many years of experience in all branches of postal work beginning as a mail carrier followed by various administrative positions.
This experience was extremely valuable to him in organization of the mail carrier system in Esetvan when it was started on August 2, 1965. The mail carrier system began with five carriers and two supervisor carriers with mail delivery six days a week, with the business section receiving twice a day delivery. The service was later reduced to five days a week delivery and the manpower reduced to five carriers and one relief supervisor carrier.
The number of carriers has now increased to seven and one supervisor in charge of the letter carrier section. The average mileage walked by these carriers today is eleven miles and they deliver to 3281 postal street calls.
In 1969 Mr. Dyer was promoted to field service officer in the Calgary District and he was succeeded as postmaster by George C. Lawrence who started his postal career with the Estevan post office in 1945. Mr. Lawrence was in turn succeeded by Lloyd Day who also began his postal career in the Estevan post office. Mr. Day started as postal clerk in 1957 and was later promoted to assistant postmaster in Brooks, ALberta before moving back to Estevan as the assistant and then becoming postmaster of the Estevan post office in 1971. In November, 1975, Mr. Day was promoted to postmaster at Camrose, Alberta. He was succeeded by the present postmaster Barry Johb, who was postmaster at Maple Creek prior to coming to Estevan.
The revenue recorded by the post office for the first year of operation was $973, a very small sum compared to the intake of recent uears. Undoubtedly the building of the CPR line to Estevan accounted for much of the initial income, a supposition strengthened by the fact that 5000 money orders were issued during 1892. In 1902 the revenue dropped to $414.00. In two decades it had climbed again to $18,828. But in the next twenty years only gained about $3,000 annually.
The big increase in revenues took place in the 60's, in 1962 it reached $80,615. In 1966, $140,000, while for the year 1979 the revenue was $357,000. Also, during 1979, the Estevan post office handled 7,178,796 pieces of mail, or an average of 19,641 pieces for every day of the year, with each item being handled three or four times before final delivery.
In 1972 the Zone system came into being and the Estevan post office became a zone office with the Estevan postmaster being in charge of the smaller offices in this area. The present zone covers 33 offices with a proposed increase to 41.
The Estevan post office has always been noted for being one of the most efficient offices in the province and a training ground for further advancement. At present there are eight postmasters and assistant postmasters in the three western provinces that at some time worked in the Estevan post office and have bettered themselves due in some part to the experience gained here.
The present staff consists of the Zone Postmast, Barry Johb, Assistant, Anton Walliser, Letter Carrier Supervisor, Jerry Wock, postal clerks Marshal Young, Albert Petrash, Art Hard, Wm. Baryluk, Mike Bachynski, George Hart, Shirley Martin, Wes. Collins, Mabel Young and Isabelle Anderson. The letter carrier staff consists of relief carrier David Ackrill, Cliff Packer, Barclay Cook, Roger Eagles, Les. Pattemore, Rod Fagerheim, Wayne Collins and Paulette Freiss.
Through the years the Estevan post office has had many other employees, some have retired, some have been promoted to other offices while some have taken up other careers. I feel it would be an error if their names were not mentioned in this book, so at this time I will attempt to list the names of these people from the record that is available. They are as follows: John Pederson, Bill Glough, Dorothy Chabot, Evelyn Evenden, Florence Duncan (Skogberg) Lois Andrews (Bye), Bea. Cable, Evelyn Giem, Vern Pace, Keight Knight, Rem. Walker, Alice Walker, Dick Burner, Don Weir, Leon LeBlanc, Marvin Gisi, David Gisi, Jack Beggs, Fred DeBoth, Scotty Watchman, Hazel Thormoset, Gordon Kobitz, Wilma Ormston, Maurice Wetsch, Lloyd Gunther, Wilf. Wagner, Ray MacKenzie, Dennis O'Handley, Dennis Langevin, Harvey Langevin, Dan McCartney, Kurt Selke, Joan Burnet, Rennette Godfrey (Harris), Dian Woolsley, Pat. Nordquist, Al. Anderson, Holis Hoimyr, Bill Colquhoun, Tim Hygard and Robert Stender.
I no doubt have missed some of the former employees and for this I apologize. But I do feel that all who worked in the Estevan post office have had some influence on our post office operations and have contributed to its betterment.