Burdett Sod Post Office, circa 1900

The Burdett post office was established in 1888 and operated until 1937. No details were provided with this postcard photograph to indicate when it was shot but it appears to be circa 1900 when Dorcas A. Harvey was postmistress. The faded sign on the building to the left reads "Groceries" since the Harveys operated a store at the post office location from 1897 to 1915.

Apparently it was remodeling day (the Harveys built a new soddy for the store and P.O. when it outgrew the single room in their home) since that mail sorting rack leaning against the wall still has mail in some of the boxes. Note the three nail keg seats for customers to sit and talk.

Burdett Sod Post Office circa 1910

This post card photo of the Burdett post office is titled Mail Day - Dec 24, 1910. It is a picture of our mail day at Burdett Colorado on the praires of Colo. My folks took a homestead a few miles from this little store and post office. All buildings are of sod. Very nice inside and very warm in winter and cool in the summer.

On mail day, almost everyone would go to get their mail and a few groceries, as we just had mail day twice a week, sometimes just once, carried by a team of horses and carriage. My sister was in the car at the time, as she was working in the store helping at times, and my oldest brother (Walter) who is 94 now, is by her side on the right. The little child is some of neighbors. The first car in near Burdett Colo. years ago. - By Maude Lair Barnes. (Maude Lair married Elmer H Barnes in 1916 near Kelly.)

Identified as being in the picture but not necessarily from left to right, are: Dressel boy, Jake Dressel, Grandpa Dressel, Julius Behrendsen, Herbert Stanley, Fred Tinkham, Ben Smith, Mrs. Gardner, mail carriers, Mrs. Dorcas Harvey, Mrs. Jake Dressel and baby, Grandma Dressel, Mrs. J.J.S. Harvey, Zella Behrendsen, Mrs. Lon (Bess) Felkey, Cora Gardner Brown, Jesse Nitzen, Perl Barnes, Carl Behrendsen, George Kennedy, Bernard Lair, Bertha Lair Blackmore Smith, Lon Felkey (Standing by his first chain-drive car), Walter Lair and three Jake Dressel children.

The back of the card has a note reading "The first car in Burdett, Colo. Bertha Lair in car." The penciled-in arrow on the front of the card points toward Bertha's brother, Walter Lair.

This 1910 Burdett Mail Call post card was published in the Akron News-Reporter during the Washington County Centennial observance in 1976. The list of names was donated by Arlene Glenn.

The following letter was Maude Lair's "Keep Sake of the Prairies" when she was 15 and 16 yrs old.

Donated by Linda R.F. Arnold - granddaughter of Maude Lair Barnes.