#65 on cover with a very fine pre-Civil War, Richmond, VA duplexed handstamp

No. 7 Barclay Street is a historical address located in Lower Manhattan's Tribeca/Financial District border, sitting just steps from Broadway, City Hall Park, and the Woolworth Building. During the mid-to-late 19th century—the era of the envelope shown above—this specific building was a bustling commercial site heavily tied to the early growth of the Pacific Northwest.

The 19th-Century Mercantile Hub

In the 1850s and 1860s, No. 7 Barclay Street served as the New York headquarters and purchasing office for Henry Winslow Corbett (the "Mr. H. W. Corbett" on the envelope) and his business partner and brother-in-law, Robert Maclean Failing.

• The Operation: Corbett was a prominent merchant who had moved out west to Portland, Oregon, where he built a massive wholesale dry goods, hardware, and grocery empire.

• The Purpose of the Address: While Corbett ran the frontier operations out in Oregon, his New York office at 7 Barclay Street acted as his critical East Coast shipping anchor. Massive quantities of goods, machinery, textiles, and tools were purchased at this address and shipped around Cape Horn to supply the rapidly expanding Oregon Territory.