Thanks to the research of Aalten historian E.M. Smilda, a great deal of historical information about postal deliveries in the municipality of Aalten has come to light. A look back at the history of the postal service shows that, in the early nineteenth century, couriers and messengers were responsible for delivering letters and messages for both public authorities and private individuals.
On the exact site where the then-new post office on Peperstraat opened in 1986, Hendrik Jan te Gantvoort and Garret Jan Hoopman started a stagecoach postal 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 travelled via Zutphen to Aalten, Bocholt, and Borken twice a week. On two other days, the route was travelled 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
Aalten’s postal service moved many more times. It operated from a barn in Dijkstraat, from Landstraat (later Ebbers shoe shop), from the corner of Kerkstraat and Peperstraat (later fashion shop De Postiljon) and, from 1922, from the former mayor’s residence, the so-called Tackshuis, on Haartsestraat. On 26 June 1986, the postal service left that location for a new building on Peperstraat.
About twenty years later, Aalten’s post office closed. Since then, residents have been able to handle postal matters at Primera on Bredevoortsestraatweg.