PANAMA CANAL POSTAGE

Building the Panama Canal is known as one of the greatest engineering feats of all time.  During the Canal’s 10-year construction, American workers needed to stay in touch with loved ones back home.  So a special postal service was established on June 24, 1904.  That’s also when the first canal zone stamps were released, which were overprints of Panama stamps.

Most Canal Zone stamps were created right in Washington, DC.  Overprinted Panama

One of the first stamps issued for use in the Canal Zone – 1904 overprinted Panama stamp.

stamps came first and were used for less than a month.  On July 18, 1904, they were replaced by US postage stamps overprinted “CANAL ZONE.”

However, US stamps with images of famous Americans like Washington and Franklin weren’t popular with Panamanians in the Canal Zone!  As a result of protests, the stamps were changed.  .