1850. The first person to fill the office was Adams Archibald, a native of Truro, Nova Scotia, who kept it in the railway-station.
The following is a list of the postmasters, with the dates of their appointment:—
Adams Archibald, March 19, 1850.
Edmund Blood, May 25, 1868.
Charles H. Hill, July 31, 1871.
George H. Bixby, June, 1878.
During the postmastership of Mr. Blood, and since that time, the office has been kept at the only store in the place.
A post-office was established at South Groton, on June 1, 1849, and the first postmaster was Andrew B. Gardner. The village was widely known as Groton Junction, and resulted from the intersection of several railroads. Here six passenger-trains coming from different points were due in the same station at the same time, and they all were supposed to leave as punctually.
The trains on the Fitchburg Railroad, arriving from each direction, and likewise the trains on the Worcester and Nashua Road from the north and the south, passed each other at this place. There was also a train from Lowell, on the Stony Brook Railroad, and another on the Peterborough and Shirley branch, coming at that time from West Townsend.
A busy settlement grew up, which was incorporated as a distinct town under the name of Ayer, on February 14, 1871.
The following is a list of the postmasters, with the dates of their appointment:—
Andrew B. Gardner, June 1, 1849.
Karvey A. Wood, August 11, 1853.
George H. Brown, December 30, 1861.
William H. Harlow, December 5, 1862.
George H. Brown, January 15, 1863.
William H. Harlow, July 18, 1865.
The name of the post-office was changed by the department at Washington, from South Groton to Groton Junction, on March 1, 1862; and subsequently this was changed to Ayer, on March 22, 1871, soon after the incorporation of the town, during the postmastership of Mr. Harlow.
The letter of the acting first assistant postmaster-general, printed above, supplements the account in Butler's History of Groton (pages 249-251). According to Mr. Butler's statement, the post-office was established on September 29, 1800, and the Honorable Samuel Dana was appointed the first postmaster. No mail, however, was delivered at the office until the last week in November. For a while it came to Groton by the way of Leominster, certainly a very indirect route. This fact appears from a letter written to Judge Dana, by the Postmaster-General, under date of December 18, 1800, apparently in answer to a request to have the mail brought directly from Boston. In this communication the writer says:—
