BY KRISTIN BEUSCHER
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
NORWOOD, N.J.—It’s a question that was still being asked into the 1960s. That’s because Norwood, despite its modest population, once had two post offices.
The Norwood Post Office operated out of the Norwood station on Erie’s Northern Railroad line. That station, shown at right, was built in 1870 at Broadway and Railroad Avenue.
Then there was the West Norwood Post Office, which was based at the West Norwood station at the Broadway crossing of the West Shore Railroad line. That post office existed from the early 1890s.
Even after Norwood seceded from Harrington Township to form a borough in 1905, the two post offices continued to operate independently of each other, with distinct postmasters each answering to district post office officials.
Where a person lived didn’t necessarily determine whether they received mail through Norwood or West Norwood. Rather, in the early days before home delivery, when mail had to be picked up from the post office, it was dependant upon which railroad station the man of the house used for commuting.
“For the non-commuter, the decision was a highly elective one, with sociability, local gossip and friendships all coming into play,” according to a 1980 history of the borough. That’s because in the early 20th century, the post office was more than a place to retrieve mail—it was also a social center for the community.
Some families in River Vale, Old Tappan, and even Tappan, N.Y., used West Norwood addresses. For years, Northvale’s mail was also picked up at West Norwood.
Despite all this, West Norwood was never an incorporated place. It was a colloquial designation for the western section of Norwood beyond Tappan Road, which cuts through the borough from north to south.
The mail system finally changed in 1957 when home delivery began in Norwood.
On their own, neither Norwood nor the West Norwood post office had enough circulation to qualify for home delivery—but when combined, they did. In 1957, the two were united as the Norwood Post Office. House-to-house delivery began Sept. 1, 1957 and the West Norwood branch was closed.
Neither of the old railroad stations is still standing today.