New York Mail and Newspaper Transportation Company records

1897-1957

The New York Mail and Newspaper Transportation Company was the original contractor, in 1898, for mail delivery by pneumatic tubes between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Later on the company became a contractor for tube service between post offices within Manhattan as well. The New York Mail and Newspaper Transportation Company was a subsidiary of the American Pneumatic Service Company and then of that company's successor, the Lamson Corporation of Delaware. A related company, the Tubular Dispatch Company, was the original contractor for pneumatic tube mail service in Manhattan.

Mail delivery by pneumatic tubes began in New York during the 1890s. The service was conceived as a faster method for delivering mail as street transportation slowed with the increasing congestion of city thoroughfares. The service was paid for by Congressional appropriation, and was administered by the Post Office Department. Tube service existed between post offices in Manhattan south of 125th Street, and between Manhattan and Brooklyn. In 1953 pneumatic tube service ended in New York when the Postmaster General, claiming the service was too costly, cancelled the New York Mail and Newspaper Transportation Company's contract. The contract had been signed in 1951 and had not been due to expire until 1960. The cancellation was backed by Republicans in Congress who criticized Hubert Humphrey who, as a member of the Senate Post Office Committee during the previous, Democratic, administration had sponsored the legislation authorizing renewal of the contract.