On November 24, 1896, the United States Post Office Department established Pennsylvania's first two rural mail routes in Westmoreland County. One operated from the post office in New Stanton, and the other operated out of nearby Ruffsdale, later spelled "Ruffs Dale." The nation's first five rural carriers had begun the month before on routes in West Virginia, and by 1905 the United States had 32,000 routes. They proved instrumental in breaking down rural isolation.