Eden
Eden Township, Marshall County, South Dakota, USA
History of the Postal Service in the Eden Area
from "Marshall County"
by the Marshall County Historical Society
©1979
pages 113 - 114
The earliest settlers in the Eden community received their mail
from the Nutley, Old Eden and Frank Post Offices. Nutley, the
first post office in the area was served by Mr. Hazelton and
was located a mile southeast of the present Harlan Storley farm.
Nick Trautner managed both the Frank Post Office and general
store. Following his death, Mrs. Trautner continued the services
until 1914. The postmaster at Old Eden was Balthauser Janisch.
These three post offices were served by carriers from Webster.
The above services were performed previous to the establishment
of the Post Rural Free Delivery Service in 1896 and thus the
Federal Record Center of St. Louis has no record of these
deliveries.
The National Archives and Record Services of Washington reveal
that the post office at Luffman was established on April 12,
1900. Named after the first postmaster, it was located near
Clear Lake and received mail from Webster.
The postmasters and dates of appointment for Luffman are as
follows: Marin M. Luffman, Apr. 12, 1900; Mathias Trautner,
Aug. 13, 1904; William C. Shaw, June 8, 1906; Valentine Neth,
June 5, 1908; Michael Trautner, Dec. 9, 1908.
During the summer of 1914, the post office was moved to the new
town of Eden, where it was situated between the community hall
and drug store. The rear of the building was the home of John
Bauer - Eden's first postmaster. Mr. Bauer was also editor of
the local weekly newspaper - The Eden Times.
The second postmaster, Dr. Charles R. Andrews, was appointed Aug.
12, 1918 and served until Dec. 19, 1919. At this time the post
office was located at the present Steiner station site and a
millinery shop, located east of the present bank site, was
operated by Mrs. Andrews.
At this time pay for postmasters in fourth class post offices
was very low, so there was difficulty in interesting anyone to
accept the position. There was a likelihood that Eden would lose
its post office until John Bauer was induced to take on the work
again by patrons offering to donate money to supplement the small
salary. This time he served from Dec. 17, 1919 to July 10, 1922.
when Stanley Hall succeeded him and served until July, 1923.
The post office was moved into the drug store where the succeeding
four postmasters managed both store and post office. They were:
Albert Parker, appointed July 2, 1923; Frank J. Grossman,
appointed Oct. 3 1923; and Adolf Unger, appointed July 2, 1927.
George Pitzl received his appointment May 19, 1930 and served
until his death Jan. 29, 1960. It was during this period that
the post office advanced to third class.
In 1940 the postal facilities were moved from the drug store to
a newly erected building - the present location.
The present postmaster, Mrs. Elvera Pitzl, received her
appointment Mar. 23, 1960.
The Soo Line Railroad brought mail to Eden from 1914 until its
daily train service was changed to tri-weekly in 1936. To provide
Eden and its neighboring towns along the Soo Line with daily mail,
the Webster-Veblen Star Route was established. Carriers for this
route were Art Lunby, Ansel Sampson, Adolf Romereim, Bill Anderson,
and Arnie Viland, the present carrier.
In 1962 this Star Route was changed. It now originates in Sisseton
and terminates in Webster, delivering mail to Lake City, Eden,
and Roslyn.
From 1915 to 1920 there was a tri-weekly rural route delivery
which served a 26 mile route east of Eden. Following are the
names of the carriers and their periods of service: Charles W.H.
Trom, Aug. 1915 to May, 1916; Martin Opitz, May, 1916 to January,
1917; George White, January, 1917 to Oct., 1918; Albert J. Opitz,
Oct., 1918 to Mar., 1920; Sam Skjonsberg, Mar., 1920 to July,
1920.
In 1920 the route was discontinued until 1922 when the Star
Route was established and the following served as carriers:
Martin B. Spoden, 1922-1926; Julius C. Hollander, 1926-1930;
between Eden and the Hoem School House: C.S. Gibson, 1930-1934;
Henry Opitz, 1934-1953.
Following the death of her husband, Mrs. Rufina Opitz continued
the route deliveries and is the present carrier. In 1960 daily
delivery service was established on this route.
E-mail: dwagner2@isd.net
©2002 DJW
Last Modified:
October 12, 2002