In the age of email, the act of sending a letter can seem archaic. But despite the increased digitization of communication, and the removal of over 1,000 mailboxes across Canada, street-side mailboxes are still a common sight in Toronto.
Street letterboxes made their official Canadian debut in Toronto in 1859. According to Bianca Gendreau, curator of the Canadian Postal Museum, the initial twelve boxes were located from Bathurst to Parliament, mostly on King and Queen streets.
Called pillar columns, they were simple cylinders made of cast iron with a slot, with pick-up times printed on the side. No images of these first mailboxes have survived, and Gendreau said that their colour is unknown. She said that the now standard colour — unimaginatively called Post Office Red — is first evident starting in the 1880s.
The early volume of mail is staggering. In 1886, the post office was delivering 200,000 letters each week in Toronto. By 1890, it was 280,000. To put this into perspective, Toronto’s population by 1901 was a mere 208,040. “In those days, letter writing was the only means of communication,” Gendreau explained. (In 2011, 28.8-million pieces of mail were distributed weekly in all of Canada).
But getting mail delivered to the correct address hasn’t been the only historic aspiration for Canada Post: combating mailbox vandalism has always been an issue. Gendreau says that mailboxes were regularly scribbled on and marked up. “In the 1920s, they were saying that in the best situation, mailboxes should be painted every year [to combat graffiti].”
It’s a problem they’re still working on, 150 years later. According to Canada Post spokesperson Eugene Knapik, the new anti-graffiti design, with colourful postal code decals that make Toronto’s 2,643 mailboxes stand out, have been successful in deterring vandalism.
And while it seems many people today may be more inclined to tag a mailbox than drop a letter in one, Knapik said that the urbanization of rural areas and an increase in parcel deliveries means that mailboxes will not be disappearing any time soon.
photo by Harry Choi and Toronto Archives
2 comments
I find it interesting that Canada Post dealt with graffiti by using decals … the Postal Code decals are almost like Canada Post graffiti.
I wonder if one day, Canada Post mailboxes will be as iconic as the ones in the UK.
A lot of utilities are doing this. I see hydro boxes covered in leaves so that any applied graffiti would be difficult if not impossible to read. I think its a great idea and they look nicer than a plain green, or in this case red, box.