Vigo County Historical Society

Newspapers play a significant role locally

Newspaper: The presentation of news and information which has been assembled by news-gathering organizations throughout the world.

Newspaper: A publication devoted mainly to news, issued regularly under a continuous title, commonly printed on a cheap grade of paper and unbound. The term was seldom used before the 18th century and did not supersede "gazette" and "journal" until the 19th.

When I started to research this article, I was amazed at the number of newspapers that were started in the early days of Terre Haute.

I could not possibly name them all in this article. Most of them, however, were short-lived. Some lasted one year, a few lasted two years, and a very few lasted three years. Two early papers were named Republican, two were named Democrat, a couple were named the Times and Eagle. All were short-lived.

The daily Tribune was started by William G. Graffis in 1894 as the independent paper for The Tribune Publishing Co.

In 1904, the owner purchased The Gazette, and combined the two to form The Tribune-Gazette, but in 1906, shortened it to the Tribune. Andrew Keifer became general manager in 1911, with William Cronin as editor.

Although it was started as a Republican paper, it switched its support to the Democratic Party in the 1920s.

Andrew Keifer died in 1940 and was succeeded by his son Louis. He retired in 1956 and was succeed by Marcee Cox. In 1978, C. Wayne Perry replaced Cox and continued to edit the paper in 1980.

The Morning Star was established in May 1903. This independent daily publication was owned by the Terre Haute Star Co., with M.L. Sudaker as editor. Around 1908, the Morning was dropped from the title. James A. Harvey took over as editor in 1911, and was succeeded by John C. Shaffer in May 1914. In January 1931, the paper was sold to the Tribune owners and the corporation became the Tribune-Star Publishing Co. Each paper continued as a separate daily publication, although they combined on Sunday as the Tribune-Star. Principal owners of the new corporation were the heirs of Crawford Fairbanks one of the leading stockholders of The Tribune, with George Padgett as editor, James Benham replaced Padgett as editor in 1933 and directed the Star’s editorial department until his death on May 4, 1961. Lawrence Sawyer succeed Benham.

The Post made its debut on Sept. 6, 1906, under the editorial direction of William F. Cronin for E.W. Scripps and Associates. The paper halted publication in the 1930s.

The Advocate was established by The Vigo County Central Labor Union in 1919, as a pro-union publication. It was a weekly until the early 1970s when it switched to a monthly and F.J. Nation became editor. It ceased publication in 1974.

Although we get most of our news from television today, we still like our newspapers.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Previous articles may be found on the society’s Web site at indstate.edu/community/vchs.