Site of First Post Office in Wise County, Odessa

Established Sept. 8, 1855. First white settler in Wise County, Benjamin B. Haney, was the first postmaster. Second was Martha E. Marshall, appointed Dec. 5, 1856; third, Nathan Huff, served from March 16, 1860, until office was discontinued on Dec. 5, 1866. David C. Haynes and William Quagle, contractors, brought mail every Saturday by stagecoach from Birdville (25 mi. SE), arriving Odessa 12:00 noon. Stayed at George Wilmouth Inn two hours, arriving in Birdville 8:00 p.m. Second post office, Newark, opened 1893, after another Odessa was founded in Ector County. (1967)