First Air Mail Marker

First Air Mail Marker

National Park Service photo by Mike Litterst

Quick Facts

Location:

Washington, DC

Amenities

3 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Wheelchair Accessible

The First Air Mail Marker on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., commemorates the inaugural United States airmail flight of May 15, 1918, a landmark moment in American aviation and postal history. Located near 15th Street NW and Jefferson Drive, the marker sits close to the site where the first official airmail plane departed, marking the beginning of the nation’s scheduled airmail service.

The 1918 flight represented the federal government’s first sustained commitment to aviation as a means of national communication. Although experimental mail flights had occurred earlier, this operation was the first continuous, government-run route. The service launched as a joint effort between the U.S. Post Office Department and the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which provided both pilots and aircraft during the early phase.

On the morning of May 15, dignitaries gathered at the Polo Grounds on the Mall—then an open field used for drills and temporary aviation activities. President Woodrow Wilson and Assistant Postmaster General Otto Praeger attended, underscoring the symbolic weight of the event for a wartime nation eager to modernize its communication systems. Army Lt. George L. Boyle, flying a Curtiss JN-4H “Jenny,” was chosen to pilot the first official airmail flight. Although Boyle became disoriented and made a forced landing off course, the mission still inaugurated a scheduled service that quickly expanded. Within months, the Post Office Department assumed full responsibility from the military and began establishing routes that laid the foundation for transcontinental mail delivery and the later growth of commercial aviation.

The marker itself was installed in 1958 for the 40th anniversary of the first flight. The U.S. Post Office Department partnered with the National Park Service to place a permanent marker recognizing Washington’s role in the birth of regular airmail service. Postal officials, aviation historians, and NPS representatives attended the dedication. The chosen location approximates the original 1918 takeoff area, anchoring the memorial in its historic landscape.

Its design is modest: a bronze plaque mounted on a simple stone pedestal, consistent with mid-20th-century commemorative markers across the National Mall. The inscription notes the date, purpose, and significance of the first airmail flight, offering a concise reminder of an event that helped shape modern transportation and communication.

Today, the First Air Mail Marker stands as a subtle but meaningful tribute to an aviation milestone. It recalls a time when the Mall’s open fields served as makeshift runways and when the federal government took its first bold steps into aviation. 

Inscriptions

Air Mail
The world's first airplane mail to be operated as a continuously scheduled public service started from this field May 15, 1918.
The route connected Washington, Philadelphia and New York. Curtiss JN 4-H airplanes with a capacity of 150 pounds of mail flew the 230 miles in about three hours.
The service was inaugurated by the Post Office Department in cooperation with the aviation section of the Signal Corps of the US Army on August 12, 1928, the service as taken over in its entirety by the Post Office Department.
This marker was erected by the Aero Club of Washington on the fortieth anniversary, May 15, 1958.