July 1, 1963, 60 years ago: ZIP Codes come into use.
Most towns weren't big enough to need more than one postal zone. For those that were, there were simple numbers, one or two digits, starting in 1943. For example: From the time he was born in 1943 until he went off to war in 1965, my father lived in the Forest Hill Section of the North Ward of Newark. People living in the North Ward would write their addresses as "Newark 4, New Jersey." With ZIP Codes, it became "Newark, NJ 07104." Note that the 4 became the last digit. An address of "New York 17, NY" became "New York, NY 10017."
The Zone Improvement Plan created regional zones, as follows:
000-005 Not In Use
006, 007 and 009 Puerto Rico
008 U.S. Virgin Islands
010-014 Western Massachusetts
015-026 Eastern Massachusetts
027-029 Rhode Island
03 New Hampshire
04 Maine
05 Vermont
06 Connecticut
07 Northern New Jersey
08 Southern New Jersey
09 U.S. Military Bases in in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East
100, 101 and 102 New York City, Manhattan
103 New York City, Staten Island
104 New York City, The Bronx
105-108 New York State, Westchester County
109 New York State, Rockland County
110 New York State, Long Island, Floral Park
111 New York City, Queens, Long Island City
112 New York City, Brooklyn
113 New York City, Queens, Flushing
114 New York City, Queens, Jamaica
115 New York State, Long Island, Mineola
116 New York City, Queens, Far Rockaway
117-119 New York State, Long Island, Suffolk County
12 Upstate New York
13 Central New York
14 Western New York
150-165 Western Pennsylvania
166-176 Central Pennsylvania
177-189 Eastern Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia
190-192 Philadelphia
193-196 Philadelphia Western Suburbs
197-199 Delaware
200, 202-205 Washington, D.C.
201 Virginia, Dulles International Airport
206-209 Maryland, Washington side
210-219 Maryland, Baltimore side
220-238 Virginia
247-269 West Virginia
27-28 North Carolina
29 South Carolina
30-31 Georgia
32-34 Florida
35-36 Alabama
370-385 Tennessee
386-399 Mississippi
40-42 Kentucky
43-45 Ohio
46-47 Indiana
48-49 Michigan
50-52 Iowa
53-54 Wisconsin
55-56 Minnesota
58 North Dakota
59 Montana
60-62 Illinois
63-65 Missouri
66-67 Kansas
68-69 Nebraska
700-715 Louisiana
716-729 Arkansas
73-74 Oklahoma
75 Texas, Dallas-Forth Worth Metroplex
76 Texas, rest of North
77 Texas, Houston area
78 Texas, San Antonio area
79 Texas, West
80-81 Colorado
820-831 Wyoming
832-839 Idaho
84 Utah
85-86 Arizona
870-888 New Mexico
889-899 Nevada
900-918 California, Los Angeles area
92 California, San Diego area
93 California, Central
940-951 California, San Francisco Bay Area
952-961 California, Northern
962-966 U.S. Military bases in Far East and Antarctica
967-968 Hawaii
969 Guam
97 Oregon
980-994 Washington State
995-999 Alaska
Outside cities, ZIP Codes were arranged alphabetically. For example, I grew up in East Brunswick, in Central New Jersey. Our ZIP Code was, and remains, 08816. A town neighboring us both geographically and alphabetically, Edison, had 08817, 08818 and 08820, with 08819 available for overspill. (So far, despite Edison's huge growth, it hasn't been needed.) Oddly, they also use 08837.
Other neighboring towns fulfilled this, with some a little off: The Dayton section of South Brunswick is 08810, the Franklin Park section of Franklin is 08823, the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick is 08824, Helmetta is 08828, Jamesburg and Monroe are 08831, Metuchen is 08840, Milltown is 08850, the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick is 08852, Piscataway is 08854 (a slight outlier), most of Old Bridge is 08857 (some of it uses the South Amboy post office, some of it the Matawan office), the Parlin section of Sayreville is 08859, Perth Amboy is 08861, the rest of Sayreville is 08872, the Somerset section of Franklin is 08873, South Amboy is 08879, South River is 08882, and Spotswood is 08884.
New Brunswick is 08901, North Brunswick is 08902, Rutgers University (in New Brunswick and Piscataway) is 08903, and Highland Park has the State's highest-numbered ZIP Code, 08904.
An ad in a comic book of 1963 explained it this way:
In 1984, "ZIP + 4" was introduced, leading to 9-digit ZIP Codes. The house I grew up in, in East Brunswick, New Jersey, had the Code of 08816. From 1984 until we moved out in 1991, it became 08816-4307. (Don't mail anything to that ZIP Code now, please. Whoever has it now would not appreciate it. It might not even be used for the same house.)
In 1990, Fox premiered the TV Show Beverly Hills 90210, guaranteeing that America's young people would know at least one ZIP Code -- hopefully, two, counting their own.
Of all the changes that happened in America in the 1960s, and particularly during the Administration of President John F. Kennedy, two that were huge parts of our culture, but are rarely talked about now, are the institutions of Area and ZIP Codes.