By Jim Leach
Photo courtesy Sangamon Valley Collection
It was the early days of aviation, and Springfield’s postmaster saw the potential in mail delivery by air. Postmaster William Conkling pushed for a Springfield stop in the inaugural run of a Chicago to St. Louis airmail route.
Conkling produced a special one-day-only cancellation stamp and a special airmail envelope for local residents to send distant letters. Some 39,000 were printed and sold at 10 cents apiece.
On April 15, 1926, Springfield was a stop on the first day of the new airmail route. Among the pilots who flew into Springfield that day for the introduction of airmail was Charles Lindbergh, who one year earlier had graduated at the top of his class from the Army Flying School. Within months, Lindbergh would give up airmail in order to get ready for his history-making trans-Atlantic flight in May of 1927. Months later, Lindbergh would return for the dedication of the city’s airport as Lindbergh Field.