History of Southeast, New York, USA

Southeast is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States.

The first "South East" post office was established in 1797, when the town was still a municipality in Dutchess County. On June 12, 1812, the county of Putnam was established from six Dutchess County towns: Carmel, Kent, Patterson, Philipstown, Putnam Valley and Southeast. These two dates provide a frame of reference for the dates of operation of each Southeast post office.

Before the establishment of centralized post offices, local offices were established in general stores, railroad depots and other public venues in densely populated areas. In Southeast, there were nine individual post offices, each with distinctive postmarks:

Brewster's Station from 1850 to 1883
Brewster from 1883 to date
Doanesburgh from 1839 to 1855
Dykman's from 1851 to 1894
Dykemans from 1894 to 1935
Milltown from 1826 to 1867
Putnam Lake Branch 1959 to 1968
South East 1797 to 1812 (Dutchess County)
South East 1812 to 1857 (Putnam County)
Tilly Foster 1881 to 1958

By September 1968, the last of these local offices was closed, and the only post office for the town of Southeast and village of Brewster was located at 20 Main Street with the postmark "Brewster, New York 10509"

Brewster is a village within the town of Southeast, New York in Putnam County, United States. The village is the most densely populated portion of the town. The village is named for two early farmer landowners, Walter and James Brewster.