Posted on 12/12/2021 8:20:42 PM PST by blueplum
In southern Indiana, in a town of just over 2,500 people, one name stands out everywhere you look … on the hardware store, the community center, even the fire department (with trucks named after some familiar reindeer). But the town's most important distinction? It has the only post office bearing Santa Claus' name.
For more than 90 years, letters from around the world have found their way here, to Santa Claus, Ind.
... "It was in 1930 that 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' had a cartoon saying, 'If you write to this little town in Indiana, you'll get a letter.' And the postmaster received over 100,000 letters."
It all began in 1856, when the town's application for a post office under the name Santa Fee was rejected. (It was deemed too similar to Santa Fe, another Indiana town.) So, the postmaster suggested Santa Claus, and the name stuck.
Today, Santa Claus receives about 30,000 letters....
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
We went to the post office yesterday, and they had a box behind the desk labeled ‘Santa Letters’.
I asked the lady serving us what they did with them, and she said that there is a whole national organization that gathers and reads them every year, and that individual post offices do, too - including the one we were in. Conversation didn’t go further because there was a line behind us; but I imagine that lots of people involved in that do what they can to answer the ones they are able to.
Lots of kiddies asking Santa for a new Red Ryder AR15 with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time
There’s also a Santa Claus, AZ, but it’s been abandoned for quite a while. I think the post office closed at least 20 years ago. The last time I drove past there was 2017, and the remaining buildings were all covered in moron sign (graffiti).
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