The Puyallup Indians received their name from the Yakima Indians, who came over the mountains to trade and began to refer to this tribe of natives, heretofore unnamed, as "pough-allup" or generous people.
Although there is to this day controversy over who actually came up with the name Puyallup for the town (the Indian tribe and river had already been named), be it Ezra Meeker or A.S. Farquharson, one thing is true; their idea worked. They wanted a name like no other in the country because of problems with postal mail. The first post office in the area was called Franklin, and the mail intended for this area seemed to get spread around the country to other post offices called Franklin. So, when Ezra Meeker platted the first 20 acres for his township, he decided to name it Puyallup, and on August 16, 1890 a special election was held to vote on the incorporation of Puyallup, WA. Ezra Meeker's most famous quote since then is he "… rued the day I gave it the name, Puyallup." Clearly, although he may have come to loathe the name, he loved the town. He was voted as the first mayor of Puyallup, and was re-elected in 1892 to serve a second term.
Even though, to this day, most people in the country can't pronounce the name, no one who has been here can deny how beautiful this valley and town are.
Source: Daffodil Valley Times.com

 

In 1911 home delivery of mail started in Puyallup and all street names were changed to numbers. Source: Puyallup library.

 

Branch 1484 of the National Association of Letter Carriers was chartered on December 5, 1912.  There is little historical information back that far.  National does know that our beginings were very small with three Letter Carriers and one substitute for the first few years of our existence.  All three Letter Carriers voted against affiliating with the AFL in 1914.