History of Post Offices Around Kinmount
March 13, 2023

George Train's Post Office and Store, Kinmount
By Guy Scott
The ultimate acknowledgement of every settlement in Canada was the establishment of a Post Office. It marked the official government recognition that a place now existed and it gave that settlement a name! In the 1800s, post offices were granted to many small settlements upon request. There were no Rural Routes, and difficulty in transportation meant the post office moved as close as practical to the actual settlers.
The earliest mail deliveries came by stagecoach up the Bobcaygeon Road. A part of the local postmaster’s job was hauling the mail from Kinmount back to the rural post offices, usually 2 or 3 times a week. The arrival of the railway further cemented Kinmount as a mail depot (and increased the speed of mail delivery).
In pioneer times, the Post Office was simply a corner of the Postmaster’s House or a department of a local store if one existed. In the smaller settlements and villages, there was no true post office buildings until the mid 1990s. Kinmount’s first ‘official’ Post Office building was opened in 1970. Over time the number of rural post offices declined as people moved away from the backwoods settlements and the Rural Route was established. The mailbox replaced the trip to the postmaster’s home. The times they were a changing (for better or worse).
Kinmount’s first 6 postmasters were all businessmen on the Main Street. Evidently a post office went with the business! Bill Mark was a World War I veteran who was recalled to training duty during World War II. In his absence, his wife Nell & son Keith “filled in” as postmasters, until the Major returned. George Train had the Post Office as part of his stationery and book store at the corner of the bridge. Bill Mark moved the Post Office across the street to the Hopkins & Marks Department Store. After the Great Fire of 1942, the Post Office relocated in the Stone “Grocery” store, now the Freshmart. In 1970, a new Post Office building was built on its present site: the first time a separate building housed this service. There it remains to this day.
Kinmount’s Postmasters
John Hunter 1859-1871
Ralph Switzer 1871-1873
Charles Moffat 1873-1879
Alexander McArthur 1879-1883
James Wilson 1883-1894
George Train 1894-1933
Wilfrid (Bill) Mark 1934-1940
Neil Mark 1940-1941
Keith Mark 1941-1944
Wilfrid (Bill) Mark 1944-1962
Bertha Stata 1962-1971
Bill Pearson 1971-1974
George Sundberg 1974
Jane Rolfe 1974-1996
Doug Burley 1996-1999
Sandra Cole 1999- ?
Since then, there have been several postmasters
Post Offices Near Kinmount
Established Closed
Kinmount April 1, 1859
Burnt River 1873
Silver Lake 1859 1927
Galena Hill 1859 1871
Union Creek 1908 1952
Ewan 1894 1945
Fortescue 1891 1946
Irondale 1874
Furnace Falls 1883 1967
Gelert 1879 1969
Minden April 1, 1859
Miner’s Bay 1908 1960
Moore’s Falls 1878 1901
Norland 1862
Dongola 1900 ?
Buller 1900 ?