posted 01-14-2024 10:22 AM               

Space Cover 736: Port Canaveral Post Office

The cover above was cancelled at the Artesia, FL post office on December 31, 1953, and also the following day January 1, 1954 when the office was renamed Port Canaveral, FL. With the expanding development of the Atlantic Missile Test Range, this tiny post office would soon be inundated with collector requests for covers postmarked to commemorate unmanned launches and beginning in 1961 manned flights of the US space program. On a recent visit to Florida, I decided to locate the original Port Canaveral post office.

My research led me to 8901 N Atlantic Ave, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920, which first served as the Artesia post office until it was renamed in 1954. This single story, cinder block building with a flat roof was constructed in 1952 when the Artesia post office needed to be relocated due to test range development. Referencing a photograph from the City of Cape Canaveral History Archive, the building looks much as it did in the 1950's, a side by side comparison with today is shown below.

To better relate the location, I've annotated a NASA Launch Operations Directorate (LOD) map from February 1962, which shows the infrastructure used to support the Mercury program. The Port Canaveral post office location is approximately 3 miles southwest of the Redstone and Jupiter launch complexes. I found it interesting to learn that the SR528/A1A causeway, which I used on my drive, was not yet completed at this time, being dedicated in October of the following year, 1963. Patrick Air Force Base is located approximately 10 miles south of the Port Canaveral post office.

Below I've included a few interesting Port Canaveral covers from my collection. I'm looking forward to seeing some of yours, especially if you have any mail pre-1958. The covers in the image are as follows:

• January 11, 1954 – postal card from the second week after being renamed to Port Canaveral.

• January 31, 1958 – Explorer 1 launch, with paste on newspaper cartoon cachet, partially erased pencil address Tom Marshall, Box 379, Owensboro, KY, 42302.

• March 14, 1958 – commercial airmail cover, non-launch date (first anniversary of Jupiter A launch at LC6, notable as first shipped directly from Chrysler factory in Michigan).

• June 22, 1960 – Thor/Ablestar booster launch carrying Transit 2A and GRAB 1, signed by the Postmaster of Port Canaveral in the upper left corner, Elizabeth Holmes (E. Holmes) who served in that position for more than 25 years.

• August 31, 1962 – last day covers, hand and machine cancel with cachets.

On August 31st, 1962 the Port Canaveral post office was renamed Cape Canaveral, and was moved next door to a larger building at 8907 N Atlantic Ave, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920. Today this building is home to the Canaveral Port Ministry. The current Cape Canaveral post office is nearby at 8700 Astronaut Blvd, Cape Canaveral, FL 32920.

An article from the Orlando Sentinel on May 3, 1963 shows the new Cape Canaveral post office, Elizabeth Holmes is seen standing outside with the other postal workers.

posted 01-14-2024 12:45 PM               

I have somewhere close to a hundred covers woth Port Canaveral handstamp cancellations, the vast majority being Sarzin, Goldcraft, and Zaso production cachets. But, sorry to disappoint, I have nothing prior to 1958.

And, of my hundred or so, only a few are relevant to this particular topic... so I'll focus on just one:

I bought this particular cover very early on in my new hobby. I'd been collecting launch covers for maybe a couple of months and I liked the look of it straight away when I spotted it on eBay. Without thinking, and doing no research whatsoever, I bunged in a ridiculously high bid and when the auction ended there was no surprise that I'd won it.

It was only when, about two weeks later when it had winged its way over the Atlantic, that I looked at it closely and thought "oh no! I've bought a fake!"

I was so naive at that point in my collecting that when I saw it (or rather when I first realised, After Having Purchased It!!) that it had both a Port Canaveral and a Cape Canaveral cancellation, I thought they were two different, separate places.

Of course, I now know differently. The Port Canaveral cancel was applied five days prior to the changeover to Cape Canaveral. (Although I've still got no idea who produced the cachet).

So here it is — a launch and event cover for Mariner 2, whose own historic voyage is now forever woven into the history of a post office in Port/Cape Canaveral...

posted 01-14-2024 01:52 PM               

As you can see from the front of the cover above, this Sc #U349 piece of postal stationary, issued in 1893, was postmarked in Canaveral, FLA on May 9, no year noted. Destination Cocoa, FLA on the mainland, west of what would become Port Canaveral.

Then on the reverse, above, is a backstamp from (what appears to be) Titusville (on the mainland well north of Cocoa) on May 9. And a “REC’D” backstamp from Cocoa on May 10, 1894. And someone later penciled in “1883 – 1950, Brevard @ Artesia”. So I guess the person who did the pencil notation had placed the Canaveral PO as being in/near Artesia.

So, does anyone know how an 1894 “Canaveral” postmark relates to an Artesia postmark? Were they nearby? Was Canaveral a subpost of Artesia (doubtful given that the area was sparsely populated back then)? Something completely different?

posted 01-14-2024 03:40 PM               

Canaveral is Spanish for "place of the canes" or "canebreaks" and is one of the oldest recorded geographical names in American history. It originated well before Merritt Island was named as such and originally seems to include much of the coast north of Merritt Island southwards all the way to present day Cape Canaveral including all of Merritt Island.

I'd assume the pencil notation is speculation not fact.

Given that the envelope in 1894 was sent from Canaveral via Titusville to Cocoa, it would seem unlikely that Canaveral refers to Artesia (later Port/Cape Canaveral) but is more likely that Canaveral was a post office somewhere in the vicinity of the northern portion of Merritt Island or even further north on the coast of what is now Canaveral National Seashore... where precisely Canaveral was I don't know, but there must be sources out there that can pinpoint it.

Edit: It has been pointed out to me that in the 1860s there were three post offices between the Indian River and the 'ocean' in Brevard County: Canaveral; Canaveral Harbour; and Artesia.

posted 01-14-2024 04:30 PM               

At the end of the month I will be making some visits within Brevard County of Florida's Space Coast, originally though, in working on an early space history project. During those upcoming visits I would like to expand my research work to include postal history of Artesia/Port/Cape Canaveral as well.

It has always been my understanding that the first Cape-area postal facility was established at Sand Point in 1859 (later named Titusville) and at Rockledge/Cocoa in 1860 at Magnolia Point, about 2 miles north of today's Cocoa, but was Indian River City at the time by which a post office was going to be established, however, the city's name was too long for a post marker to be produced, so Cocoa was later chosen.

The southern cities, too, of Eau Gallie and Melbourne were all linked together in sharing Brevard's postal history during this era, but were farther away in distance than beach-side Artesia, DeSoto Beach, and even Titusville from the actual firing range.

There is much more to the rich postal history of this area, but concerning "Canaveral" as an established postal facility of any kind, I have never heard nor seen any Canaveral postal markings during the 1800's. As Alan pointed out, there is a Canaveral National Seashore north of the Kennedy Space Center, but from my understanding, there wasn't a post office of any sort operating in that area, not even during the early 1900's with a "Canaveral" name because of such little settlement population with no permanent roads or railways (boats had to be used).

posted 01-14-2024 06:29 PM               

Dennis, very interesting Canaveral cover. I have never seen a Canaveral cover that early, just wow!

During my digging into Elizabeth Holmes, I did find a few articles from the newspaper Florida Today containing reference information from her daughter Flossie Staton. Flossie appears to have been owner of the old Port Canaveral post office building once it was closed. In the article and reply posted below, a Canaveral cover is shown from Aug. 22, 1925. I too did not know that there was a Canaveral post office this early.

Referencing the article asking for more information on Dec 26, 2009, Flossie provides the following response on January 7, 2010:

For a number of years there was a post office in Canaveral, not far from the lighthouse, totally separate from Artesia. At the time it was discontinued, Grace Tomlinson was postmaster. The same mail carrier serviced both offices, starting his route in Canaveral and ending in Cocoa. During my childhood, "Goober" Yancey was one of the carriers.