The Edgar Post Office

During the 1870s, Scotsman Charles S. Edgar mined kaolin clay deposits for the Edgar Brothers Clay Company of Metuchen, New Jersey, and the clay was used to make heat-resistant bricks and hearth tiles. As the company expanded, he searched for higher-purity kaolin white clays and, after learning of a phosphate discovery in Florida, traveled there and located a kaolin deposit between Interlachen and Hawthorne. By 1888, he had developed a process to mine the kaolin from the surrounding fine-grained white sand, and in 1892 he incorporated the Edgar Plastic Kaolin Company. To provide for the needs of his approximately 50 employees, he founded the Town of Edgar in 1883, including housing, a company store, a chapel, and a post office. The Edgar Post Office began operations in 1894 in the town’s company store, later moved to a small building constructed in 1960, and served the community until it closed in June 2010.

Florida · United States