The Postal History of Kleinwalsertal

On 1st July 1862 the first post office in Kleinwalsertal opened. It was directly on the boundary with Bavaria and was called WALSERSCHANZ after the border inn. It was active as a post office till 30 June 1886, and was run by the innkeeper Ludwina Fritz. After that (until 1914) Walserschanz was a postablage.

With the opening of this post office the second period of the Kleinwalsertal postal service begins, and extends up to the Anschluß. In this period the Austrian postal administration opened further post offices and Postablagen, so that the situation in 1938 was the same as today. Austria joined the Bavarian Customs Union on 1.5.1891; this however had no postal effect, since mail from Austria-Hungary (or from 1918 from Austria) to Germany was charged at Austrian inland rates.

On 29 July 1886 both Mittelberg and Riezlern received their own post offices. The post office at Riezlern was in the Gasthaus zur Traube, Hailer's bakery, and the Angel Hotel, until it moved on 5 November 1960 to its own building. In Mittelberg it was in the Zum Widderstein, then in a house (which is still called the Alte Post) until its new office opened in December 1964. Until 8 July 1929, Hirschegg had only a postablage (it opened in the Zum Hirschen around 1900); as a post office it is housed in the Mesnerhaus. Baad, at the inner end of the valley, has never had any postal facilities!

Walserschanz 1882(?)	Mittelberg 1906	Riezlern 1886

When Walserschanz was demoted to a Postablage in 1886, it continued to use its cancellers directly on the Austrian stamps. Since it delivered most of its post to the Bavarian post office at Oberstdorf, and this was not allowed to cancel the Austrian stamps with its canceller, the normal rule was here reversed: Walserschanz cancelled the Austrian stamp directly, the Bavarian post office at Oberstdorf cancelled beside the stamp. Post up the valley to Mittelberg was cancelled according to the regulations.

The cancel on the left is on an 1893 card with attached reply portion, addressed to Frankfurt a.M., with the sender's address given as Oberstdorf (ie in Bavaria!) and a different Oberstdorf address pre-written on the reply part. I suspect it was purely philatelic, as such a card would not be on sale in Oberstdorf, and probably not at a Postablage either; and the card would not have been valid for the return trip! There are no other markings on the card, and one wonders if it ever entered the postal system.

The card below shows a 1905 cancel from Walserschanz ON the stamp and the Oberstdorf cancel beside it.

©Andy Taylor. Last updated 13 April 2000