Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
The motto (thought not officially) of the United States Postal Service was suggested by one of the architects of the James A. Farley Building, which serves as New York City’s main post office. The inscription can be seen carved across the entablature on the building:
“The firm of McKim, Mead & White designed the New York General Post Office, which opened to the public on Labor Day in 1914. One of the firm's architects, William Mitchell Kendall, was the son of a classics scholar and read Greek for pleasure. He selected the "Neither snow nor rain . . ." inscription, which he modified from a translation by Professor George Herbert Palmer of Harvard University, and the Post Office Department approved it.”
-Postal Service Mission and “Motto”
The Angarum, to which the original Greek line refers, were the royal riding post in the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid period, praised by Herodotus in his history of the Persian Wars, for their speed and dedication.
photographs, from top: George P. Hall & Son, Manhattan: United States General Post Office, Eighth Avenue between W. 32nd Street and W. 31st Street, undated. (detail); Frederick Kelly, Post Office, New York City, April 19, 1962.
