In 1938, the U.S. Post Office sponsored National Air Mail Week, held from May 15 to 21, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of Air Mail service, first launched by the Post Office on May 15, 1918. Carmel NY Postmaster Thomas Townsend served as chairman of the National Air Mail Observance Committee for Putnam County.
He fully embraced the celebration, which was aimed at boosting postal revenue during a time when the nation was emerging from the Great Depression and still reeling from the airmail contract scandal earlier that decade.
On May 19, 1938, Rockridge Airport on Townsend Ridge in Kent became the heart of Putnam County’s postal history. More than 3,000 commemorative cachet letters from the Carmel, Mahopac, and Garrison post offices were loaded onto a personal aircraft piloted by Hillyer Bennett of Mahopac Falls
