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434 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY CHAPTER IX. THE PRESS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. THE STEUBENVILLE HERALD justly lays claim to being the oldest newspaper in the state, with perhaps a single exception. It was established by Lowry & Miller in the year 1806, its headquarters then being the one-story frame building on the east side of Third street immediately above Washington. In 1814 it was purchased by James Wilson, who had previously conducted the Aurora at Philadelphia. During the days of the whig party, it was a power in all this section of country. The entire sheet measured 22X18 inches, and it would hardly fill one corner of the present Weekly Herald. About 1838 Mr. Wilson became president of the Steubenville, Cadiz and Cambridge turnpike, and this, with his duties as associate judge of the court of common pleas, so absorbed his time that he gradually withdrew from active participation in the affairs of the paper, which was now run by his son Robert, and John Worstell. About 1843, they sold out to Nathan Purviance, who kept the paper but a very short time, when he disposed of it to W. R. Allison, a newspaper man of large experience and recognized ability, who, in 1847, established the Daily Herald. Mr. Allison retained control until October I, 1873, when he was succeeded by P. B. Conn, the present proprietor. Since the Herald has been under the charge of the present proprietor, many and marked improvements have been made. The weekly edition now contains forty-eight columns. It is the recognized exponent 0f the republican party, not only for Jefferson county, but for eastern Ohio, and enjoys, as it deserves, an extended circulation and influence. Mr. J. B. Doyle is principal editorial writer. Steubenville Daily and Weekly Gazette. The Weekly Gazette was established by C. N. Allen, late editor of the Cadiz Sentinel, in Sep- JEFFERSON COUNTY, OHIO - 435 tember, 1865, though it might really be said to be erected upon the ruins of other newspaper enterprises, for previous to 1865 there had been several unsuccessful attempts made to maintain a live democratic paper in Steubenville. The original Weekly Gazette contained thirty- two columns. The prosperous times had the effect of building up a large and lucrative business for the publisher, and in 1868 a morning Daily Gazette was established — a neat, newsy, twenty-four column sheet, but the venture failed to obtain the patronage necessary to its continuance, and inside of a year the weekly was once more left in sole possession of the field, which it clung to with remarkable tenacity. The next attempt to establish a daily democratic paper was undertaken by C. N. Allen, in the fall of 1873, whose better judgment devised an evening edition as preferable to a morning paper. This proved successful, when the weekly was next relinquished and a semiweekly substituted. On the 1st of February, 1875, the Gazette establishment was purchased by Messrs. H. H. McFadden and W. H. Hunter, of Cadiz, the latter gentleman having been one of the editors of the Cadiz Sentinel. The new firm were not slow to make themselves known and felt in the community. The semi-weekly was replaced by the present Weekly Gazette, which was then the largest paper in eastern Ohio, thirty-six columns. In May, 1875, the Daily Gazette was enlarged to twenty-eight columns. Under the careful and efficient management of McFadden & Hunter, the Daily and Weekly Gazette have alike flourished and become the factors of public opinion in Ohio to no inconsiderable extent. The editorials of the Gazette are largely quoted by its contemporaries throughout the country. Its editorials sparkle with originality of thought, earning for it extensive patronage and influence, ranking it among the leading papers of Ohio. The Ohio Press, a first-class independent, newspaper opposed to corrupt legislation, and in favor of " an honest government of the people and for the people," was established in August, 1879, by W. R. Allison, several years previously proprietor of the old "Steubenville Herald." Mr. Allison is extensively known and widely experienced as a journalist in this community, and still retains the editorial chair on the Ohio Press. The Press is an eight-page paper published every Thursday. A more extended notice of Mr. Allison's career as a journalist will be found elsewhere in this work. Steubenville Germania, German weekly, appears every Saturday; independent in politics, four pages; size 26x40, subscription, $2.00; established by R. Schnorrenberg, August, 1870; from April I, 1870, to April 1, 1879, the firm was Schnorrenberg & Gescheider. On this date the former retired, leaving Mr. Gescheider as sole proprietor and editor of the paper. Large circulation, steadily increasing throughout this and adjoining counties as well as in the states of Ohio and West Virginia. The Steubenville Sunday News may be said to have grown out of what was once known as the Sunday Local, which enjoyed a merry existence of some two to three years, down to 1879, which year the News 436 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. was started. It is an eight-page forty-eight column paper, owned by the Steubenville Sunday News Co., for whom Mr. G. G. Nichols is managing editor. The Steubenville Sunday Life was established by George B. Huff, October 9, 1887. He is a young man of large newspaper experience, having worked his way up from the composit0r's case to that of editor and publisher. The Life is a eight-column quarto. It is neatly printed and newsy; independent in p0litics. Mr. Huff is the son of T. A. Huff, well-known among the earlier citizens of Steubenville. George B. was educated in the public schools of Steubenville, and has at different times been engaged in the capacity of city editor, or reporter on the following well known journals: Steubenville Herald, Gazette and Press, Leavenworth Sun, Leavenworth, Kan., and Cleveland Leader. His paper is well supported, having a circulation of about 1,800. Steubenville Evening Star.—The first issue of the Evening Star made its appearance October 14, 1889. It is a penny paper, started by W. W. Mackay more as an advertising sheet, but was soon giving considerable space to news. It is well supported by a circulation of 1,200, and large advertising patronage. The first paper published in Toronto was issued in 1879 by T. M. Daniels, and printed• for him by William B. Jewett on a small press, it being an eight-page sheet, size of page about five and one-half by eight inches. It ran this size for some months, when it was enlarged to a three-column folio, and afterward printed in Steubenville. After the lapse of four or five months more, it was again enlarged to a six- column folio. In the fall of 1880, Frank Stokes came from Knoxville, the same county, and associated himself in partnership with Mr. Daniels in the publication of the paper (which was then kn0wn as the Sloan's Enterprise, the name of the town at that time being Sloan's Station). A printing office was established and the publication continued under that name until 1881, when the name of the place was changed to Toronto, and the paper changed to the Toronto Tribune. Mr. Daniels died in 1884, and his interest in the paper was purchased by the remaining partner, who has continued to the present time. In 1882 the paper was changed to an eight-column folio, and in 1888 to a six-page eight-column sheet, since which it has been continued in the same form. It has a large circulation and influence, comparing very favorably with any of the local papers of the Ohio Valley. The Mingo News was established in 1886 by W. C. Smith, a Steubenville printer, and run for some months as a six-column folio. He took in a partner in the person of Otis W. Yarnell, a printer, of Steubenville. This partnership was of but a few months' duration, and Mr. Smith continued the publication of the paper himself, doing the work of it at the office of the Steubenville Herald. In 1888 Mr. Smith took into partnership with him Mr. Frank Kelly, of Toronto, and the two continued the publication of the News about six months, when Mr. Smith retired. After the lapse of a few months Mr. Kelly also grew discouraged in the up-hill task of running a newspaper in a JEFFERSON COUNTY, OHIO - 437 small town, and arranged with the publisher of the Tribune, at Toronto, to take the News off his hands. The latter assumed the ownership of the paper, and moved the mechanical appurtenances of the same to Toronto, enlarged the paper to an eight-column sheet, and has since continued the publication, making a very creditable local paper out of it. Mr. A. J. Stedman, son of the Hon. Lyman Stedman, of Brown's Island, has had charge of the paper, and also looks after the interest of the Tribune at the county seat — a bureau being maintained there by the publisher to afford his papers increased advantages in the way of furnishing county news. Both papers have good circulations throughout the county and adjoining counties. The Tribune, having been established a number of years before the News, has a correspondingly wider field and larger circulation. Mt. Pleasant .The first paper published here was the Philanthropist, a small quarto size of eight pages, issued every Saturday at $3.00 a year. It was printed by Charles Osborne and devoted to the news of the day and the discussion of subjects of moral ethics. The first number made its appearance September 8, 1817. Mr. Osborne continued the paper until October 8, 1818, when he sold the establishment to Elisha Bates, who continued it under the same title, but reduced it from a quarto to an octavo of sixteen pages. Mr. Bates issued his first number, December 11, 1818, and published it till April 27, 1822, when it suspended. In 1821, Benjamin Lundy published the Genius of Universal Emancipation. The paper was printed at Steubenville, and Mr. Lundy traveled on foot from Mt. Pleasant with his manuscript and returned with his printed paper. He continued it several months and removed it to Jonnsboro, Tenn. This was the first genuine abolition paper in the United States. The Village Banner was published in 1835, one year, but none of the files remain. In 1837-8 a paper was published by Elisha Bates, devoted to moral and religious subjects, but it has shared the fate of most of the others, its very name being forgotten. Still later, the Life Boat was published by John B. Wolf. It was a strong temperance paper. Besides these, there appears to have been several other periodicals published at various times. On the 16th of September, 1822, Howard issued the first number of the juvenile Museum, a semi-monthly magazine of eight pages, devoted to the entertainment and instruction of youth. With the eleventh number it was changed from a semi-monthly of eight pages to a monthly of sixteen pages. In the number for September 27, 1823, appears the editor's valedictory and the publication ceased. Then there was published from July, 1827, to perhaps 1831 or 1832, the Miscellaneous Repository, by Elisha Bates, a monthly periodical devoted to moral and religious subjects. The Friend's Expositor was first issued January 1st, 1887, and is now in its 4th volume. It is owned, edited and published by D. B. Updegraff. It is not secular, nor is it political, but strictly a religious jour- 438 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. nal. Not sectarian at all, but with the design of promoting experimental and practical piety, it is thoroughly Catholic or universal in its tone and spirit. It is thirty-two pages, small quarto. Circulation about 1,500. |