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It Happened Here: Railway Express Agency delivers goods in Yakima Valley
DONALD W. MEYERS Yakima Herald-Republic 8 hrs ago
In the days before UPS, FedEx or Amazon’s delivery drones, if you needed to send or get a package, you looked for an express agency.
For half the 20th century, the Railway Express Agency utilized a network of trucks and trains to move a wide variety of items — from documents to circus animals — around the country. And it also served as a lifeline for the people of Yakima Valley, providing quick access to goods from around the country.
America’s long, complicated relationship with railroads began in 1827, when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was chartered to move passengers and freight. At a time when horsepower typically involved literal horses, rail provided a fast and efficient way to move freight.
But in 1839, a Massachusetts ticket agent realized that this system could be used to move smaller, more valuable items, especially cash or sensitive documents that needed to be somewhere quickly or moved in a more secure way than the postal service.
William Francis Harnden advertised his service to move items from Boston to New York City via rail. His express service promised a daily car going between the two cities, with an army of agents who could be entrusted to deliver the goods to their intended destination quickly and securely.
REA office at Toppenish depot
The recreated office of the Railway Express Agency at the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in the old Toppenish depot.The agency provided a way for people and businesses to quickly ship packages and express mail. A piano that had been delivered to Toppenish by an express agency can be seen through the office window. (Donald W. Meyers/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Donald_W._Meyers, Yakima Herald-Republic
The reality of his first run was far less elaborate than his prospectus let on. Instead of a group of agents and a dedicated car, it was Harnden with a carpetbag carrying the parcels himself. But the idea caught on, with Harnden and his partner expanded the business to include passenger service from Europe.
One of Harnden’s managers, Henry Wells, would go on to start a competing service, Wells Fargo, which used stagecoaches for express runs before becoming a bank. Another competitor was American Express, now more famous for the credit card that you can’t leave home without.
Doug Shearer, a board member with the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish, said the services allowed people to order large items from distant merchants and have them brought to remote places like the Yakima Valley. One family in the Valley had a piano delivered via express service in the early 20th century, he said.
When the United States entered World War I, the federal government took control of the various express companies under the umbrella of the American Railway Express Co. The reasoning was that the various services were not coordinated enough to support the war effort and needed to be centralized.
What started as a wartime response turned into an agency that would run for more than a decade until the railroad companies decided to take it — and the profits — back.
In 1929, a consortium of railroad companies bought out the American Railroad Express Co., with each new owner’s share of the cost based on the miles of rails under their ownership. The new company became the Railway Express Agency, which quickly developed a reputation for being able to move almost anything almost anywhere.
Under the REA, train depots served as the hubs for the delivery service. Goods ranging from movies, musical instruments and animals could move quickly from one city to another by trains. At each station, a fleet of REA trucks stood ready to take packages to and from the express room at the station.
Yakima Valley
One such REA station was at the Northern Pacific Railway’s Toppenish depot. For people living in the Yakima Valley, the REA was a way to have items sent or delivered more quickly than the postal service could.
But the REA’s days were numbered. At the time it was created, trains were still the fastest and most effective way to move goods around the country, and for large amounts of freight, they still are.
But with the development of the Interstate Highway System and overall improvements in the quality of roads, truckers made inroads into the express service. Meanwhile, aircraft could move cargo across the country in a matter of hours, compared to days it takes a train to run from coast to coast.
In 1975, the REA reached the end of the line and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
REA safe at Toppenish depot
An original safe from the Railway Express Agency office at the Toppenish depot sits in the reconstructed REA office at the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish. The agency provided express delivery of items ranging from documents and cash to live animals, through a network of railroads and delivery trucks. (Donald W. Meyers/Yakima Herald-Republic)
Donald W. Meyers/Yakima Herald-Republic
But its legacy lives on at the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish, located in the former Toppenish depot. The museum group restored the old express room at the station to its original appearance. The room showcases artifacts from that time. Some of those items originally were in the office.
Among the items in the collection are one of the original safes from the depot’s express room that was bequeathed to the museum by a former depot employee, and a restored REA delivery truck that was found parked near a fruit warehouse in the Lower Valley.
Sources for this week’s column include archiveswest.com, “A History of the People of the United States” by John Bach McMaster, the Northern Pacific Railway Museum in Toppenish and the archives of the Yakima Herald-Republic.
Donald W. Meyers
(1) comment
scootwhoman
scootwhoman Apr 3, 2022 11:04pm
I remember TV commercials with a guy yelling "REA express rides again!" I used REA Express in 1974 to ship stuff home from the base in Mississippi that I was training at.
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I've done a few videos at the Northern Pacific Railway Museum, and I'll do more in the future. If you're out west, it's worth a visit. The museum is located about a 2.5 hour drive from Seattle, Portland or Spokane. --Rob - Apple & Orange Line
