Start of Railway Mail Service
On August 28, 1864, the US Post Office Department created the Railway Mail Service. It revolutionized mail delivery for a century.
This Day in History
-
-
Tariff Act of 1894
On August 27, 1894, the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act became law and established the nation’s first federal income-tax exemption for charitable, religious, and educational organizations. Although much of the law proved short-lived, its basic distinction between commercial profits and nonprofit work became a lasting part of the federal tax system.
-
Birth of Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire and now the capital of North Macedonia. Decades later, the teacher-turned-missionary would build a religious order devoted to caring for people facing poverty, illness, abandonment, and death.
-
Birth of Bret Harte
Writer Francis Bret Harte was born on August 25, 1836, in Albany, New York. His stories of California mining camps later brought him national fame and gave eastern readers a vivid, if literary, picture of life in the American West.
-
Happy Birthday Duke Kahanamoku
Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (also known as “The Duke” and “The Big Kahuna”) was born on August 24, 1890, in Haleʻākala, Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii. Duke was a record-setting Olympic swimmer who helped popularize surfing outside of Hawaii.
-
The Flower Flag
On August 23, 1784, an American merchant ship unfurled the Stars and Stripes for the first time in China. The Chinese dubbed it the “Flower Flag,” and its passengers, “flower flag countrymen,” a name that endures today.
-
The American Poet Series
On August 22, 1970, the US Post Office issued the first stamp in the American Poet Series. The series honored seven prolific American poets.
-
James Cook Establishes New South Wales
On August 21, 1770, James Cook landed on the eastern coast of Australia and named the land New South Wales.
-
America on the Move Series
On August 20, 2005, the USPS issued the first stamps in a nostalgic series honoring classic American cars. Over the next 17 years, America on the Move would celebrate four distinct groups of vehicles, from sleek 1950s sports cars to the pony cars that became symbols of youthful performance.
