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Santa Claus, Indiana: The Town That Became a Christmas Postmark

· Indiana Postal History

A snowy brick post office decorated for Christmas with a mail carrier and a stack of letters in the window
Illustration: A snowy brick post office decorated for Christmas with a mail carrier and a stack of letters in the window.

Many Hoosier place names are plain. A few are unforgettable. Santa Claus, in Spencer County in the southern part of the state, belongs firmly in the second group, and its post office is the reason the town became known around the world.

A name chosen for a post office

Local tradition says that settlers first proposed the name Santa Fe. When they applied for a post office, they learned another Indiana town already used that name, and so the community chose Santa Claus. The Santa Claus post office was officially established on 21 May 1856. The exact story behind the choice is partly legend, but the post office record is firm.

Letters to Santa

For decades the town was simply a town with a funny name. In the early twentieth century, the postmaster, James Martin, began answering the letters that children addressed to Santa. The first replies went out around 1914. The tradition took hold, and each December the post office has received letters from many places, answered by volunteers.

Why collectors love the postmark

Every year, people send cards and parcels to the Santa Claus post office so that they can be remailed with its postmark. The cancellation is a well-known Christmas collectible, and it is a good example of postal history that is still being made. A cover carrying a Santa Claus, Indiana, postmark and a seasonal stamp makes a charming single-frame exhibit.

Collecting tips

  • Look for older postmarks, with different ring styles, in the same way you would for any town.
  • Keep the original envelope with its postmark and any cachet.
  • Check the date. December covers are far more numerous than those from other months, so a summer postmark can be the scarcer item.

The Santa Claus postmark shows how a post office can define a town. It is a fine place to begin if you are introducing a young collector to postal history.

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