Mail Delivery Cart

Manufacturer / Maker unidentified

Date1900

Mediumwood, metal

Dimensions99 × 58 × 79 in. (251.5 × 147.3 × 200.7 cm)

ClassificationsTransportation

Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, museum purchase

Terms

Object numberPC1975.65.162

DescriptionMail cart with a green carriage with red-bordered windows and four red wooden spoke wheels. This cart is part of the city's history as wagons delivered mail to both Old and New Towns. The wagon was pulled by one horse and probably had a coal-fired foot warmer on the floor, and a mail sorting desk up front. Carriers delivered rural mail to just about any container left out for them, but by 1902 residents had to install mailboxes.

The cart was purchased from Albuquerque attorney and ski enthusiast, Robert Nordhaus, who helped found the Sandia Peak Ski Area and the Sandia Tram after seeing similar activites around Switzerland. Nordaus was an avid collector of New Mexico artifacts. The mail cart may have been exhibited in a small transportation museum operated at Sandia Peak in the 1960s.

On View

On view