Our annual foray into postal history shows an unusual Huntsville cover postmarked 19 December 1907. The postal marking is on a post card, hence the 1 cent postcard rate.   It may be difficult to see in the illustration, but the postmark includes the letters, “R. F. D.” above the December 19 postmark date. That part of the postmark overlays the word “Card” of “Post Card”.

Rural Free Delivery started in October 1896 as an experiment, 33 years after free delivery in cities had begun. It became an official service in 1902, and was expanded in 1913 with the introduction of rural parcel post service.   The rural delivery service used a network of rural routes traveled by carriers to deliver and pick up mail to and from roadside mailboxes. It would be interesting to know where this post card originated in Madison County, but the card does not have a return address, which is typical of post cards mailed during that period.