Under Boston · STOP 06 · Financial District
From December 1897, Boston fired its mail under these streets in steel cans of compressed air.
From December 1897, Boston's mail moved under Post Office Square in steel cans pushed by compressed air, eventually through about seven miles of tube. The tubes didn't fail. They lost a vote in Congress. Nobody has ever published a photo of a surviving piece, which is strange for seven miles of steel. Stand on the square and look down.
This is stop 6 of Under Boston. Walk it - any two stops are free.
The plate
Collected on site
Post Office Square north of Milk Street, Boston, MA 02109
Directions
The Angell memorial started out in 1912 as a horse trough, designed by Peabody & Stearns for the first president of the Massachusetts SPCA. The little park around it came in 1957.
More footnotes on the story card, in the app.
Argue about it
How fast did Boston's mail really move through the tubes?
Both sides, with their sources, are on the story card in the app.
In these collections: Under Your Feet
Near State · Near Downtown Crossing · Near Government Center · Near Aquarium · Near Park Street · Near South Station
Sources (10)
- The Tube Line - FINAL PACKAGE + Source of TruthAlarm Club (Third Polar Arch), internal Notion · 2026-09-21 (updated 2026-09-25)
- Investigations as to pneumatic-tube service for the mails (H. Doc. 60-1220), incl. plate O-A 34 'Plan of System of Boston Pneumatic Transit Co., Sept 1 1908'US Congress (Serial Set 5448) · 1908
- Pneumatic Tube Line BegunBoston Daily Globe · 1897-09-21
- History of Boston's Post Office SquareNorman B. Leventhal Park / Friends of Post Office Square · n.d.
- Once, your mail might have come by trolley or even through a series of tubesUniversal Hub · 2020
- May Stop Use of Mail TubesBoston Daily Globe · 1915-12-06
- Report of the Joint Commission on Postal Service on pneumatic tube service (S. Doc. 65-191), Appendix AUS Congress (Serial Set 7322) · 1918
- President Kills Mail Tube ProvisionBoston Daily Globe · 1918-06-30
- Pneumatic mail in Boston, USApneumatic.tube · n.d.
- George Thorndike Angell marker (HMdb 176386)Historical Marker Database · photo 2021-06-16