Once again, the Wichita State Post Office will offer a variety of Santa letters to send to a child. The letter from Santa will be forwarded to the Santa Claus Post Office in Indiana for a pictorial postmarking and then sent to the addressee on the envelope. Each letter costs $1.50. The last day to purchase a letter is Friday, Dec. 17, to allow the letters to receive the pictorial postmark.
The Santa Claus Post Office is the only post office in the world with the Santa Claus name. During the Christmas season, thousands of letters are mailed to Santa each year.
The first Santa Claus Post Office opened its doors in 1856. The town’s name did not peak interest, however, until 1914 when Santa Claus’ 14th postmaster, James Martin, began answering the children’s letters.
Soon after, people flocked to the Santa Claus Post Office to get the special postmark; so much that in the early 1930s the U.S. Postal Department suggested changing the name of the town to avoid the Christmas season frenzy.
James Martin continued answering letters and eventually enlisted Jim Yellig, famoust S to aid in helping him write back to children across the world. Today, the non-profit organization, Santa’s Elves Inc., and the Santa Claus Museum organize volunteers to answer all the children’s letters that flood this tiny post office during the holidays. In 2019 and 2020, almost 200 elves answered a total of approximately 51,000 letters.