Newton Daily News history

BREWER, BESACK, WELKER, CAMPBELL, RODGERS, NEWELL, HOUSEL, SAGE, ROBINSON, BOYDON, RINEHART, RHODES, SHAW

Posted By: Barbara Hug (email)
Date: 12/14/2005 at 15:05:43

First Newspaper, Express, Started in Year 1856
By L. O. Brewer, Publisher

Newspapers in Newton, like industry, business and education, struggled against heavy odds in the beginning to gain a place of both importance and responsibility in the community.

The Newton Daily News, which in 1952 observed its 50th year of service to the community, is the end product of Newton journalistic effort. It has measured up against the most rigid of examination – the test of time.

The thirst and appetite of people for knowledge of events, persons and things, while accentuated in recent years, has changed little since Newton was first settled.

A year before the city’s incorporation, in 1856, the first newspaper, The Express, was founded in Newton by Besack and Welker.

In that era all of the type was handset and the owners served in every capacity from publishers to typesetters, to custodians.

Walker soon withdrew from the paper and in 1857, a year after the paper’s founding, F. T. Campbell purchased an interest. Shortly afterwards, Besack sold his interest to A. K. Campbell, a brother of F. T. Campbell. The Campbells changed the name of the publication to the Free Press.

Working in the composing room of the weekly Free Press were two young men, T. M. (Tommy) Rodgers and Jackson F. Newell, who were destined to publish Newton’s first daily newspaper.

With the permission of the Campbell brothers, Rogers and Newell put out a four-column daily paper, The Newton Daily Monitor, giving Civil War news. The youths had arranged with Newton’s first telegrapher, C. J. Housel, to obtain dispatches from the eastern cities.

The pair published their paper until August, 1862, when they enlisted as volunteers in the Union Army. A year before F. T. Campbell had enlisted as a Union soldier, leaving the responsibility of running the Free Press to his brother.

Newell was wounded in the siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 22, 1862 and died June 1, but Rodgers and Campbell returned from the wars to continue their journalistic ventures.

The Campbell brothers operated the Free Press, which was still a weekly, until 1867 when they sold out to Patton and W. A. Campbell. In 1870, they sold the paper to W. S. Benham, who operated the paper for seven years, selling to John R. Sage and Ralph Robinson.

Robinson, an experienced newspaper man who operated the Clarinda Herald and had worked on other papers in Iowa, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, purchase Sage’s interest 12 months later.

One of the journalistic pioneers of Newton, Robinson operated the publication, now named the Journal, for 33 years, finally selling to F. L. Boydon in 1910.

The Journal had the first power press in Jasper county and one of the finest plants in the middlewest.

The Free Press, later the Journal, had competition during most of its existence. J. B. Besack purchased the equipment of the defunct Banner, a Democratic paper in 1868. The paper, called the Republican, collapsed from financial burdens in 1874.

F. T. Campbell and T. M. Rodgers constructed a paper, “The Headlight,” from the ruins of the Republican and operated until 1877 when it merged with the Free Press.

Until the turn of the century, only one daily paper – the short-lived Civil War publication, the Monitor – had been published in Newton.

In 1902, G. F. Rinehart and F. L. Boyden, then publishing the Weekly Herald, decided to publish a daily paper. The Herald had a long history dating back to the 1877 when it was called the First National and was a Greenback organ.

The first daily issue was printed May 2, 1902 and on May 19 the present name, The Newton Daily News, was adopted. Rinehart sold his interest in the paper to Ross Nicholson and the new owner and Boyden continued to publish the paper to Ross Nicholson and the new owner and Boyden continued to publish the paper until Nicholson’s death in 1909.

In 1910 another of Newton’s journalistic giants appeared on the horizon. James R. Rhodes purchased the Daily News March 1 of that year and published it until his death in 1944.

It was during Mr. Rhodes’ tenure as publisher-owner that the paper grew from a local publication to one of semi-metropolitan scope. Newt equipment was added and the paper increased its circulation area to include the entire county and even fringe areas outside the boundaries of the county.

Mr. Rhodes founded the Three-Quarter Century club in memory of his parents and was a prime mover in civic undertakings.

Following the death of Mr. Rhodes, the newspaper was acquired by Mrs. Mabel S. Shaw of Dixon, Ill., in June, 1944.

Mrs. Shaw appointed L. O. Brewer, the present publisher; in charge of operations. Mr. Brewer is marking his 39th year with the Daily News staff, having witnessed the growth of both the newspaper and the commercial printing business from near infancy to their present status as leaders in their respective fields.

Mr. Brewer was honored in 1955, receiving a Master Editor Publisher award in Des Moines.

Mr. Brewer, a veteran of World War I, has served in newspaper work for 53 years, beginning his career as a printer’s devil on the Dows Advocate.

He has served as president of the Iowa Daily Press association and as a director of the Inland Daily Press association.

Under the leadership of such men as Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Brewer, the newspaper has grown from a four page paper with “patent insides” to a paper, modern in all aspects.

Associated Press wire provides minute-by-minute service on world, national and state news. Reporters cover all phases of the local news scene with a modern engraving plant turning out local news pictures each day.

Rows of typesetting machines transcribe the reporter’s copy into a clean, modern type face, selected for its readability. A modern G44 Intertype machine is used in the setting of most headlines and type for advertisements.

The Daily News utilizes the various services that provide photographs and feature material, such as comics, cartoons, columns by nationally-known journalists, etc.

The present newspaper is housed in a modern building with separate departments for advertising, business and news functions.

The building was constructed in 1920 and in April 1921 the first papers rolled off the large press. The lower floor of the fireproof structure houses the commercial printing department.

Files of the Daily News are now being microfilmed, for the daily newspaper forms a living history of a city and its residents.

The public service of the paper has not gone without recognition. The paper has received several Inland Daily Press association awards for local government reporting and also for typography.

The Daily News is delivered to more than 76,500 subscribers six days a week by the fastest possible methods.

Realizing its responsibilities and duty to the citizens of Newton and Jasper county, The Daily News stands ready to perform its faithful services in the coming years. ~ The Newton Daily News, August, 10, 1957.