James Rada
Emmitsburg Dispatch
(5/1) A United States Postmaster General
came to Emmitsburg for the first time on Saturday, April 26, to celebrate Mount
St. Mary’s University bicentennial year and unveil an new pre-stamped postal
card featuring the Mount.
The 27-cent postal card features an
original watercolor of the campus.
Postmaster General John Potter and Mount
President Thomas Powell dedicated the card during an April 26 event in the
Knott Arena.
“The painting on the postal card is a
symphony of color and a tribute to Mount St. Mary’s tradition of excellence. As
an organization with its own history of more than two centuries, the Postal
Service is pleased to dedicate this stamped care and share in the prestigious
bicentennial celebration,” Potter said.
According to the U.S.P.S. Medial Relations
representative Yvonne Yoerger, the organization’s postal historian can find no
records of another official visit by a U.S. Postmaster to Emmitsburg.
“Mount St. Mary’s University is honored
that the U.S. Postal Service recognizes our historical significance and the
contributions that the university has made to higher education,” Powell said.
“We’re so pleased to have this wonderful stamped postal card to mark the
occasion of our bicentennial.”
The postal card is the 58th in the
U.S.P.S.’s Historic Preservation series, which began in 1977. The postal card
shows three of the Mount’s oldest buildings: Dubois, Brute’ and McCaffrey
Halls, collectively called “the Terrace” and make up the heart of the campus.
The buildings were built during the 19th Century and are now primarily used as
residence halls.
Frank Constantino, an award-winning
architectural illustrator in Winthrop, Mass., used historic photos and drawings
to create the scene.
Following the unveiling of the card, the
Maryland Symphony Orchestra performed an all-Beethoven concert featuring two
pieces which debuted in 1808, the same year the Mount was founded.
“I have been to many stamp events, but
this is one of the classier ones,” Potter said. “The Mount is lovely, steeped
in tradition and yet also modern. … It's an honor to be part of this 200-year
celebration.” He noted the outpouring of the community that was present.
Potter said he was not originally
scheduled to attend the Mount’s dedication ceremony. Master of Ceremonies
Walter O’Tormey, U.S.P.S. Vice President – Engineering, has a son at the Mount
and was the only one scheduled to represent the postal service. However, Father
John Enzler, a member of the Mount’s board of trustees and Potter’s long-time
paster at Our Lady of Mary Blessed Sacrament, insisted the postmaster general
come.
People interested in obtaining a
collectible version of the postal card have 60 days within which to obtain
first-day-of-issue cancelled cards. The card goes on sale nationwide on May 12.
For more information or to get your card, visit the Emmitsburg Post Office or
go to www.usps.com/shop.