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Mr. Morgan in speaking of the history of the postal service says:

“The post office played but a minor part in the early affairs of New Amsterdam. For many years after the consummation of the greatest real estate deal on record, which secured from the Indians the whole island of Manhattan for twenty-four dollars, most of the slight correspondence that was carried on was forwarded in the care of chance travelers, or mutual friends of the correspondents. Later the necessity of some sort of receiving place was felt and what was known as the “Coffee House Delivery” came into use. Letters were addressed to some popular coffee house or tavern, where, upon receipt, they were “posted” in a conspicuous place in the public room where they remained until by chance or gossip, the persons for whom they were intended learned of their arrival.

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“That system in time came to be regarded as unsatisfactory, and in 1692, when New York, as it had then come to be called, was still a quiet village of about five thousand inhabitants, the village authorities passed an act or ordinance establishing a post office. This was followed by the founding here, in 1710, of a “Chief Letter Office” by the Postmaster-General of Great Britain, shortly afterwards, arrangements were made for the delivery of mail from Boston twice a month, and propositions were advertised for the establishment of a post to Albany. The interesting feature of that advertisement, to us who are accustomed to the speedy locomotion of to-day, was that the mail was not to be carried by coach, or boat, or even on horseback, but on foot. The records are hazy as to the location of the first official post office in New York City, but according to an advertisement that appeared in a paper of the period, it was removed in 1732 from the quarters it then occupied to “the uppermost of the two houses on Broadway, opposite Beaver Street.” The year 1753 found it still in the same location. It was closed on Sundays, and at other times it was open for business from 8 A. M. until noon, excepting on post nights, when business was transacted until 10 P. M.