Church Street letter sorting unit 24D-3
Object Details
- Description
- Mail sorting units such as this one are staples in every U.S. post office. They consist simply of a table with a mail sorting wing hinged to its proper left side and an attached sorting case with a light fixture to illuminate the shelves.
- But this unit has a somber story. It was last used by U.S. Postal Service employee Emma Thornton at the Church Street Station Post Office, New York City, on September 11, 2001. She sorted mail for various routes inside the World Trade Center, stops that included Cantor Fitzgerald, Fred Alger, and Nishi Nippon Bank. The route number for mail sorted in this unit was C099, and the ZIP code was 10048. The unit's number, 24D-3, was Emma's route assignment designation.
- On the morning of September 11, 2001, the letter carriers, whose daily rounds were the World Trade Center buildings, were hard at work in the Church Street Post Office. Because they were preparing their mail deliveries for the day when the airplane struck the first tower, none of these employees were in the buildings when they were hit.
- Emma Thornton is one of the hundreds of thousands of letter carriers who have brought us our mail day after day. Her connection to her patrons is not unusual. It is the events surrounding the connection that have brought her sorting desk to the National Postal Museum. Emma Thornton’s recollections of working at the Church Street Post Office over the past decades are little gems of history. As she has said, she watched the towers go up in the 1970s and watched them come down that dreadful September day.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- September 11, 2001
- Object number
- 2002.2002.10
- User
- Emma Thornton, American
- Type
- Structures & Furnishings
- Medium
- metal; paint; plastic (Formica); paper; tape
- Dimensions
- Height x Width x Depth: 75 1/2 x 48 x 31 1/4 in. (191.77 x 121.92 x 79.38 cm) 31.8cm (12 1/2in.) Weight: 470 lb. Height x Width x Depth (crate for unit): 86 x 59 x 38 in. (218.44 x 149.86 x 96.52 cm) Height x Width x Depth (Crate for wings): 60 x 46 x 21 in. (152.4 x 116.84 x 53.34 cm)
- Place
- New York
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Associated Event
- 9/11/2001: Destruction of World Trade Center, New York City
- Topic
- Contemporary (1990-present)
- Mail Processing
- Record ID
- npm_2002.2002.10
