{"id":42068,"date":"2013-03-11T14:39:40","date_gmt":"2013-03-11T18:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=42068"},"modified":"2013-03-12T12:43:12","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T16:43:12","slug":"the-last-stand-of-the-mailbox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2013\/03\/11\/the-last-stand-of-the-mailbox\/","title":{"rendered":"The last stand of the mailbox"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 unimaginatively called Post Office Red \u2014 is first evident starting in the 1880s.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s population by 1901 was a mere 208,040. \u201cIn those days, letter writing was the only means of communication,\u201d Gendreau explained. (In 2011, 28.8-million pieces of mail were distributed weekly in all of Canada).<\/p>\n

But getting mail delivered to the correct address hasn\u2019t 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. \u201cIn the 1920s, they were saying that in the best situation, mailboxes should be painted every year [to combat graffiti].\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s a problem they\u2019re 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\u2019s 2,643 mailboxes stand out, have been successful in deterring vandalism.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

photo by Harry Choi<\/em><\/a> and Toronto Archives<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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, curatorContinue reading “The last stand of the mailbox”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4114,"featured_media":42072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-streetscape"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe last stand of the mailbox - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2013\/03\/11\/the-last-stand-of-the-mailbox\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The last stand of the mailbox - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the age of email, the act of sending a letter can seem archaic. 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