Thanks to the research activities of the Aalten historian E.M. Smilda, many historical details regarding mail delivery in the municipality of Aalten have come to light. A look back at the history of the postal system reveals that in the early 19th century, couriers and messengers were responsible for delivering letters and messages for both the government and private individuals.
At the exact location where the then-new post office opened on the Peperstraat in 1986, Hendrik Jan te Gantvoort and Garret Jan Hoopman started a “mail coach service” to Zutphen in 1812.
Cart driver
It is known that in 1742, a certain Hendrik Hoopman was a “cart driver” and drove to Zutphen twice a week. At that time, Hoopman also lived in the Peperstraat, a location that has played an important role in the local postal system throughout the centuries. In 1784, there is mention of a “mail coach” that traveled via Zutphen to Aalten, Bocholt, and Borken twice a week. On two other days, the route was traveled in reverse. Letters were carried for a stuiver and delivered to “Roelof Arentzen in De Klok.”
The aforementioned Te Gantvoort drove his mail coach via Zelhem and Hengelo to Zutphen. In 1827, Jilles van Buul was the first “distributor of letter mail” appointed by the municipal council. In 1832, the council appointed Jan Berend Lohuis as the first messenger. He handled the mail to Groenlo. Gerrit Schotman was his successor in 1843. Gerrit Jan te Tuunte was tasked with the mail route to Winterswijk.
With the introduction of the Postal Act in 1850, the municipality’s involvement with the postal system ceased. Schotman lost his job, and Te Gantvoort emigrated to America with his family in 1854, at the age of 60.
Frequent moves
The Aalten postal service would move numerous times. For instance, operations were conducted from a shed in the Dijkstraat, from the Landstraat (later Ebbers shoe store), the corner of Kerkstraat-Peperstraat (later fashion house De Postiljon), and from 1922 in the former mayor’s residence, the so-called Tackshuis, on the Haartsestraat. On June 26, 1986, the postal services exchanged that location for a new building on the Peperstraat.
Approximately 20 years later, the post office in Aalten was closed. Since then, the residents of Aalten have been able to visit the Primera on the Bredevoortsestraatweg for their postal matters.
