NJPH - New Jersey Postal History Society

HEZEKIAH B. SMITH’S INDUSTRIAL VILLAGE ~ Doug D’Avino
When Vaughn was appointed acting postmaster on January 23, 1930, after Johansen was
removed, she initially operated the post office from the Company Store. Oddly, each evening
she would take all the security materials home, including stamps, money and postal money order
slips.
On January 31, 1930, the Mount Holly Herald ran a front page story about the Smithville
post office:
Changes Made At Smithville Post Office
The post-office at Smithville which has been located in the store operated by Alfred
Johansen, has been moved to the office of the H. B. Smith Machine Company, where it
was situated prior to Mr. Johansen’s appointment as postmaster.
Mr. Johansen has been succeeded in the office by Mrs. Joseph Vaughn, who is
acting Postmistress. Mrs. Vaughn took the Civil Service examination some years back,
and was the runner up to Mr. Johansen when he was appointed postmaster.
It should be noted for the record that Vaughn detested the term “postmistress.” She was
the “postmaster” – the official Post Office Department terminology, whether male or female –
with a Commission to prove it!
Image courtesy of the Smithville Conservancy
Fig. 6: The Company Store, location of the Smithville post office while Alfred Johansen was postmaster, is the
white wooden structure in the middle of the photo, to the left of the four-story Mechanics Hall. Mechanics Hall
offered room and board, as well as a reading room, meeting rooms and an opera house, featuring the H. B.
Smith Military Band.
NJPH 202
Vol. 39/No. 4
Nov 2011 Whole No. 184