US Post Office Department Washington, D.C. Owney tag

Owney was a scruffy mutt who became a regular fixture at the Albany, New York, post office in 1888. His owner was likely a postal clerk who let the dog walk him to work. Owney was attracted to the texture or scent of the mailbags and when his master moved away, Owney stayed with his new mail clerk friends. He soon began to follow mailbags, first onto mail wagons and then mail trains. Owney began to ride with the bags on Railway Mail Service (RMS) trains across the state . . . and then the country! The Railway Mail Service clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot.

Postal workers and others began to mark Owney’s travels by placing tokens, tags, and medals on his collar. These items included baggage check and hotel room key tokens, dog licenses, and numerous items given to the dog by a variety of individuals and organizations.

Owney received this token from the postal workers whose jobs were to repair the thousands of mailbags and mail locks that were damaged during service. Given the purported love of Owney for the smell of mailbags, this shop would have been a necessary stop. The token notes that it was presented to Owney on April 13, 1892. At that time, the Washington, DC repair shop was the center of Department’s bag and lock repair work. Superintendent Franklin B. Kirkbridge managed a shop of 230 workers (120 men; 110 women) located at 479 and 481 C Street, NW. The five-story tall building held workers who repaired and returned into service 200,000 mailbags each month.

Of the workers who were employed at the repair shop, women were employed for the most part in piece work on the jute canvas sacks. They sewed the bags, repaired and restrung them as needed at the rate of 3 1/2 cents per bag. They were expected to finish 38 bags each day. The male workers were paid by the month, $75 a month for leather and canvas workers; $50 a month for the laborers who received, shook out, handled, packed, and reshipped the bags after they had been repaired.

Markings:
U.S.MAIL / BAG AND LOCK / REPAIR SHOP / APRIL 13 / 92 / WASHINGTON D.C.

Museum ID: 0.052985.93