Philip Downing patents a “street letter box”

October 27

On October 27, 1891, Philip Downing patented a “street letter box” which later became known as a mailbox. 

Philip Downing was an influential black inventor from the late 1890’s to the early 1900s. 

Downing died in 1934 at the age of 77. 

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Sources

Philip Downing

Who Invented The Mailbox