Michael Garland (American, B. 1952) "Rural Free Delivery - Horse-drawn Mail Wagon" Signed lower right. Original Oil painting on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting originally appeared on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the U.S. 32c Rural Free Delivery stamp issued August 7, 1996. Rural Free Delivery began in 1896 when rural residents in three small West Virginia towns first began receiving home mail delivery. According to the U.S. Postal Service, RFD is "a cornerstone of today's Postal Service, and a fixture of American life. Along the way it's opened up new avenues of commerce and communication, stimulated the development of the great American system of roads and highways, and established a vital link between industrial and rural America." Americans are familiar with the legendary 'service with a smile' that rural carriers render daily as 'post offices on wheels' to more than 24 million customers over 54,000 rural routes across the nation. But it wasn't always that way. Pioneer America had little in the way of postal service due to the isolation of communities and lack of developed roads. Much of the early mail was from settlers to relatives in Europe or elsewhere. Letters destined for overseas were often entrusted to captains of merchant ships. What little domestic mail there was, was hand-carried by whoever happened to be heading in the right direction and agreed to take it. Regardless of how it was moved, final delivery to the addressee depended largely on luck and chance. Image Size: 14 x 12 in. Overall Size: 17.75 x 15 in. Unframed. (B15535) See More