National Association of Letter Carriers
Overview
 
The National Association of Letter Carriers (or NALC) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 labor union, representing non-rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

 letter carriers
Mail carrier
A mail carrier, mailman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman , postman/postwoman , letter carrier or postie is an employee of the post office or postal service, who delivers mail and parcel post to residences and businesses...

 employed by the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

. It was founded in 1889.
In 1889, knowing many of their colleagues would be attending the Grand Army of the Republic
Grand Army of the Republic
The Grand Army of the Republic was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, US Marines and US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War. Founded in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, it was dissolved in 1956 when its last member died...

 encampment in their city that summer, Milwaukee letter carriers issued a call to meet during the reunion to form a national association. Sixty letter carriers from 18 states gathered in the meeting room above Schaefer's Saloon on Plankinton Avenue in Milwaukee.
 
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