Little Corwin's Battle Over Their Own Post Office

Wayne Township contains two villages that are entwined together and seem to be one, however, both have their own distinctive identifications. They are Corwin and Waynesville.
Our time frame for this article is staged in the summer of 1887. A name change of Corwin to Waynesville on the Penn Central & St. Louis Railway (originally the Little Miami Railroad) time cards seemed to outsiders to be a favorable move. The community was congratulated for ending its troubles. But, to the citizens of Corwin, it took away their identity.
They felt this move somehow was an effort to bamboozle them out of a post office of their own.
Letters were often addressed to Corwin instead of Waynesville, and it seemed to the Corwinites that these letters traveled all over the State before reaching their destination.
The railroad station was named Corwin, but no post office was registered there which resulted in some confusion.
Two distinguished citizens of Corwin told a reporter that: "Two years ago we were trying hard to get a post office. We have a population of over one hundred, are a mile away from Waynesville and repeatedly, during the time of high water, while trains are running and the mails are delivered here, they cannot be sent to Waynesville and we have the intense annoyance of seeing the mail sacks containing what may be letters of the utmost importance to us, and yet we can not get these letters until they are taken to Waynesville and we tramp across in the mud and meekly ask for them. We wanted a post office and we had a right to it."
James Campbell, Congressman from the district, was contacted concerning the right of Corwin to have a post office, but the claim was made that a "Democratic Congressman" was not going to do them any good.
Their next contact was with John Little. (The writer cannot find exactly who this man was.) A petition was introduced and a plat of the town was later asked for and sent.
It now seemed that Corwin was about to get their post office. But, as was stated, "two of Waynesville's' Democrats, who were afraid that if Corwin got a post office they might lose a few dollars of trade, drove over to Hamilton and saw Campbell."
The post office deal was squashed. The petition was put aside. Mr. Little wrote the citizens of Corwin that he was unable to help any further.
The people of Corwin did not give up. They would wait for better times.
They never complained. Their claim was that since they got rid of their saloons, a more orderly, respectable community was not to be found in the State.
Some adversaries of the small village proposed, through the railroad authorities, to have the name of the railroad station and telegraph changed. Before the Corwinites knew anything about the plan, the Corwin Station had been renamed "Waynesville Station."
Approximately six years later Corwin finally got its own post office. Its beginnings were February 4, 1893, with Jacob R. Hisey as postmaster. He remained in this position until December 15, 1898, when it was turned over to Dora L. Stiles.
It was discontinued October 15, 1918, when it was permanently moved to Waynesville.

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This page created 10 August 2004 and last updated 28 September, 2008
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