Rhode Island Tercentenary First Day Covers - The Four Types of (Main) Providence Post Office Cancels

Rhode Island Tercentenary Issue First Day Cover
300th Anniversary of the Settlement of Rhode Island
Issued on May 4, 1936 in Providence, RI - Scott #777

The four types of Providence Cancels for the RI Tercentenary Issue
The four types are from left to right - top to bottom
(1) CDS with 3 inside, (2) 65 mm Cancel for Blocks
(3) 22 mm Cancel for Singles, and (4) Universal Machine Cancel

The first Postmaster in Providence, Rhode Island was Samuel Chase who was appointed by the General Assembly of June 1758. Mr. Chase operated the Post office from his book store. The second Postmaster for Providence was John Carter who was appointed in 1772 and operated the Post Office from his print shop at Shakespeare's Head on Meeting Street. Mr. Carter was the Providence Postmaster until 1792. The Providence Post Office was officially established by an act of the United States Congress on February 16, 1790.

(Rhode Island didn't ratify the constitution until May 29, 1790.) The 2nd Providence Post Office (First Fully Automated Post Office in the USA) was established in 1960 and commemorated with a new stamp issued on October 20, 1960. The current Postmaster is Daniel J. Doyle Jr. appointed on July 9, 2005.

There are currently 17 Post Office branches and stations located in the Providence Urban area; at the time the tercentenary stamp was issued in 1936 there were only 14 branches and stations. Each of the branch and station post offices represented by a tercentenary cancel include a location map as below.

The 14 Branch and Stations of the Providence Post Office in 1936 were as listed below:

1. Center-station	2. Brown-station	3. East Side-station
4. Edgewood-station	5. Elmwood-station	6. Gaspee-station
7. North-station	8/ Olneyville-station
1. Centerdale-branch	2. Cranston-branch	3. East Providence-branch
4. Riverside-branch	5. Rumford-branch	6. Saylesville-branch

Sources:
Check List of Rhode Island Post Offices 1790-1994 - Del Beaudreau
Rhode Island Postal History: The Post Offices - Merolla, Jackson & Crowther