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B. Free Franklin Post Office

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The history...

The B. Free Franklin Post Office and Museum is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the only colonial-themed post office still operated by the United States Postal Service. That’s because it is the oldest and original Post Office in the United States and founded by Benjamin Franklin when he served as Postmaster General. There are many strange things about this post office. It is the only one in the country that does not wave an American Flag because when the B. Free Franklin first opened they did not have a flag waving. The B. Free Franklin Post Office also does not have a Zip Code and it has many rules for those who work there! The post clerks who work in the B. Free Franklin Post Office have to wear Colonial-style clothing, and they aren’t allowed to use ballpoint pens. Instead, they have to use quills in inkwells.

The postmark "B. Free Franklin" is from when Ben Franklin was still the Postmaster General. Instead of using stamps, people wrote their names in the top corner of the envelopes. The people who received the letters at the time paid for the postage and not those who sent them. Ben Franklin used to sign his envelopes as B. Free Franklin as a way to protest British rule over the colonies.

If you go inside the B. Free Franklin Post Office today you will see may postal artifacts, including figurines and photographs.