Editor’s Note: “The Story of The Lowden News” was presented to the Lowden Historical Society July 30, 1975, by Dick and Dorothy Sennett, former owners and publishers of the Lowden newspaper. It was later published in a series of 4 segments in the Sun-News as well as in the Lowden Historical Society Annual Report of 1975.
It was just 73 years ago this month, July 18, 1902 that the very first copies of THE LOWDEN NEWS rolled off the press. This first issue was the beginning of a local business which was able to survive the depression years and to prosper during the post war years.
George W. Mueller was founder of THE LOWDEN NEWS. In his first issue he stated, “This issue is the first newspaper ever printed in Lowden, it will form an important mark in the history of the town.” According to Mueller, repeated effort had been made to locate a newspaper here prior to 1902 but always failed. It was also stated in this issue that THE LOWDEN NEWS greets its readers and introduces itself to the public with a firm belief that the people will recognize it as a true friend.
You will note that advertisers include FIVE DRY GOODS stores including: A. Freund and Co.; H.L. Deichmann; Hoeltze and Licht; Nieting and Licht; and The Fair, Arkin and Arkin; also the S.H. Kimball Meat Market; D.W. Rix Hardware and Furniture; Nick Welsleff, Blacksmith; Charles Boettger, Grist Mill and Yankee Run Creamery; D.W. Conrad, Lumber; H.D. Kemmann, advertising Minnie, the McCormick Deering Binder; P.H. Jurgensen, Druggist; Pat Reid, Tonsorial Artist; Germania Hall, advertising seating capacity of 1,000 persons; Wm. Reinking, Photographer, the Lowden Savings Bank, and others.
The newspaper began in the building which now houses Mary Ann’s Barber Shop on South McKinley Ave. the year 1902 was also important to the residents here since this also was the year that the present Lowden City Hall was constructed. The total cost was $5,225.00 It was also at that time that a Lumber Mfg. Co. was planning to locate in Lowden and were offering to furnish 25 building lots and 25 houses guaranteed not to cost over $1,000. This was due to the fact that there was not one vacant house in Lowden and they needed to provide living facilities for factory employees.
Mr. Mueller continued editing the newspaper until his death in 1913. During these 11 years, Charles Seaton of Clarence had held a half interest in the paper. Seaton was also publisher of The Clarence Sun for many years. With Mueller’s death, Seaton continued on while Chas. Reid, Lowden Postmaster purchased Mueller’s interest. Some type used in ads and news articles in the early life of THE LOWDEN NEWS was still being used up until April of this year. However, after the switch to offset in 1972, not much type was set by hand anymore. But this old-fashioned method still had its advantages in setting up some jobs and advertisements.
In 1916, Mr. Reid became the Cedar County Recorder and sold his interest to Richard Parr. Parr edited the paper during those critical post World War I days and his issues of the News are not on file here. We have been told that issues of this are in the Jones County Courthouse. Mrs. Cyrus (Louise Ernsting) Kemmann was employed as a typesetter for Mr. Parr.
Hubert Hoeltje became the first sole owner of THE LOWDEN NEWS in 1920 when he purchased it from Seaton and Parr. At that time the News was located in a building where the Laundromat now stands.
After five years, Mr. Hoeltje sold his newspaper to A.W. Bushnell, publisher of The Stanwood Herald in 1925 and THE LOWDEN NEWS was now being printed in Stanwood. Bushnell employed George Wassen as editor for a few months in 1925 and Mrs. S.E. Sennett then took the position. Mrs. Sennett, the former Hedwig Meier who was born January 26, 1893 and raised in Lowden, had attended linotype school in Charles City following her graduation from high school. She used to tell how her mother highly objected to her attending such a school which at the time was just being introduced and was mostly attended by young. The linotype and linograph were machines invented to set type by melting metal and recasting it into letters. This was a big advancement for the printing industry.
A year later, 1926, Mr. Bushnell hired Mr. Sennett and he learned the entire printing operation in a short time and in early 1927, he purchased THE LOWDEN NEWS from his employer. Mr. Bushnell was the father of Mrs. Edwin (Marion) Ruprecht of Lowden. Now the actual printing was returned to Lowden.
By this time the News Office was located on the north edge of the business district, McKinley Ave., the former Horstmann Harness Shop Building. It remained the home of THE LOWDEN NEWS until 1972. The building was purchased by S. E. Sennett in 1938. This building was razed this spring to make room for the new drive-in bank.
The only equipment in the News plant when it was bought by the Sennetts were 8 cases of type, a Chandler and Price Job Press which was operated with a foot pedal and an Advance Paper Cutter. Mr. Bushnell had two linographs (manufactured in Davenport) in his shop at Stanwood and one of these was moved to Lowden. The large Scott Newspaper Press was purchased at that time by Sennett from the Western Newspaper Union of Chicago. It was shipped to Lowden on a flat railroad car and hauled to the News Office, a piece at a time by Herman Steinke, local drayman. The press was erected by a machinist from Western Newspaper Union, assisted by A. L. Mensing, a local mechanic at Freund’s Garage. Dick Sennet can remember “Al” setting him down on a 5-gal. paint can continuously. Dick was always in the way and running off with his wrenches. Dick was a little 10 year old boy then.
This old newspaper press missed printing about only 10 issues of THE LOWDEN NEWS in the 45 years it was used by the Sennetts. During these breakdowns and roller problems, the News was printed by our good neighbors, The Wheatland Gazette. Three years ago, the press was sold for junk iron. Additional hard type and a proof press were obtained from the Miles Company in trade for advertising. Some of this type was sold along with THE LOWDEN NEWS to Tipton.
In 1972, when the change was made to offset, the old hand fed Chandler and Price press was donated to the Industrial Arts Dept. of the Wheatland high school. Dick S. Recalls that this press had only one welded spot all these years caused by two “would-be” printers, Hugo Deininger and Hugo Rowald. It seems that they were trying to be good Samaritans since S. E. Sennett was down with the flu, and he had a sale bill that had to go out. After getting it set up and in the form, they put it on the press – not knowing that the type had to be fastened very tightly in the form. It seems that when they started the press, type went flying every where and a part of the press was broken. Guess this experience is why neither of the Hugos went on to be printers!
In the 48 years under the Sennett reign, many HOBO printers stopped to work a few days to get some food and a little money. One such printer liked the town so well that he stayed for 2 years. However, one hobo coming through Lowden stopped at the News Office asking for enough money for a meal. So Sid told him if he would throw back some type he would reimburse him that much. After he was gone, it was discovered that he was no printer at all and the type was not in its right compartments and this created more work than help for the Sennetts.
We also have on display tonight a copy of the October 20, 1932 edition of THE LOWDEN NEWS. This paper was one of the highlights in the life of THE LOWDEN NEWS since it was a special anniversary edition in commemoration of the Town of Lowden’s 75th anniversary. Dick remembers the long days and hours put in on this issue. Just prior to its publication, the News force didn’t hit a bed for two nights and three days. He also recalls that a man had been hired from Chicago to collect the ads and write up the history of Lowden business places for this issue, but it seems he was more interested in the girls of Trinity Walther League than he was in working! This edition carried letters from many pioneers and a complete history of the town up until that time. The issue consisted of 18 large pages and a copy of it is included in the files in the Lowden News office.
In 1928, the name of THE LOWDEN NEWS was changed to the Northeastern Cedar County Post. Then…in a March issue in 1935, Mrs. Hedwig Sennett, the editor stated, “After nearly 7 years of publication under the name of the Northeastern Cedar County Post, we find the majority of our readers still refer to the old home town paper as THE LOWDEN NEWS, so it is decided to go back to that title. THE LOWDEN NEWS again completes the charm string of thirteens. THE LOWDEN NEWS has 13 letters – also the names of the publisher and editor each have thirteen letters. We purchased the newspaper in the 13th year of our marriage and our telephone number is 13.” She ended the article by saying, “No, we are superstitious.” Later on in 1938, Dick and Dorothy Sennett defied the “13” superstition by being married on Friday, the 13th.
In early 1938, S. E. Sennett, publisher, started a weekly column called, In The Pi Box with “Sid”. His efforts were rewarded with lots of enjoyable responses from readers, especially the men in service. The column usually included various jokes and sometimes articles of sentimental nature. It was in 1941 that Sid and Hedwig had gone to Wyoming and other western states on a long-deserved vacation. They left the task of getting out the paper to Dick and Dorothy with the help of Rudy Gehrls, who at that time spent a lot of time in the News Office. Sid sent a letter to Dick in which he described the scenery, etc. in a big way thinking it would be used as his Pi Box Column that week. However, the junior printers weren’t aware of this and it was at this time that Dick and Rudy decided to run a long, “shady” story in the Pi Box that Sid had been reluctant to run. Another column occurred in the News in the early life of the paper and it was called the Type Louse, written by Duane Mueller, who at that time was an employee of the Sennetts. He later started the Lowden Journal but the town was unable to support two newspapers and the Journal was very short lived. It was Duane who brought this “News Hook” to the office which was used many years for that purpose, at least until clip boards and metal baskets came into being.
One of the exclusive characteristics of THE LOWDEN NEWS is its logo or “flag” which is in Old English type. This logo was purchased by the S. E. Sennetts in the early 1930’s and has been used as the Heading of each issue since.
Dick Sennett, born January 28, 1917, purchased a half interest in THE LOWDEN NEWS from his father in 1949 after being away from Lowden for a few years. At that time, his wife, Dorothy, born October 20, 1919 – the former Dorothy Feddersen of Clarence – became editor of the News replacing Hedwig Sennett. Dorothy recalls one of the first long articles she wrote up was the 45h ordination anniversary party honoring the Rev. H. Maas of Trinity Lutheran Church. All through the articles, she spelled Maas, Mass. It was then that she knew she had a lot to learn and especially to check and re-check the spelling of names as no one enjoys seeing his name spelled incorrectly, especially in the local newspaper. Luckily, the Maas error was caught by the linotype setter, her father-in-law, but it took a long time for him to let her forget it!
Many of you remember the year 1957, Lowden’s Centennial year. That year stands out as one of the busiest for the News force, since we felt it was our duty to do our best to inform and encourage all members of the community to help make it a memorable occasion. Prior to the celebration that year, instead of the usual front page cartoon cut, the paper would feature a two-column ad telling where the next Lowden Centennial Booster trip would be. Starting in July, each issue contained historical accounts of Lowden businesses. An aerial view of the Town of Lowden covered a third of the front page of the July 24th paper with a history of the town beneath it. On the next page, the Lowden Beavers were pictured. These are the men who were sporting beards in keeping with the Centennial spirit. As some may recall, the Dick Sennett living room was a popular place that year as night after night, members of the Pageant Committee and History Booklet Committee sat going through the files of THE LOWDEN NEWS trying not to miss any “historical events” which had happened during Lowden’s first 100 years.
It was also in 1956 that Dick Sennett became the lone publisher of the paper with his father, S. E. continuing to work for us as a linotype operator. He continued in that capacity until two days before his death in 1963. Here is a copy of the final paper set by him. S. E. Sennett was born August 15, 1892 in Toronto, Iowa but grew up in Missouri, returning to Iowa as a young man.
In continuing on the subject of the files of THE LOWDEN NEWS, the Sennetts never allowed any of them to go out of the office or as I said during the Centennial they were moved to our home. Some of these are very, very fragile and the pages must be turned with care. No matter what the fate of THE LOWDEN NEWS is – it is our sincere wish that copies continue to be found into files each year as long as there is a Lowden News. There are no issues missing from July 31, 1925 to January 1, 1975. There are also two large bound files of the early years of the paper.
When the paper was sold this year, it was agreed by the new owners that if the paper is ever moved from Lowden, that these files remain here and are turned over to the Lowden city council and preferably kept in the City Library. It was in the early 60’s, that the first automatic job press was purchased by the Sennetts. It was quite an attraction for the news force and visitors to just stand and watch the Kluge operate by itself. It was then that we could handle larger jobs and get them completed faster. This press was still being used for some letterpress work when the News was sold to Tipton this year.
When Dick and Dorothy took their only two-week long vacation, June 13-25, 1966, they were not forewarned of the several tragedies that were to befall the Lowden community during their absence. It seems this was an unlucky era. On June 20th, two freight trains collided here and 24 cars and 3 diesels piled up in the wreckage. Many of the cars were carrying beef and in a short time the odor was unbearable. Lowden residents reported the crash sounded like a jet falling. Another incident was Kenneth Keith’s airplane having almost crashed when a propeller came off. He, with the help of Harold Gilmore, owner of the Lowden Airpark, were able to land on the blacktop road south of Lowden. This happened on June 17th. Then on June 21st, Raymond Kroemer received serious injuries to his right arm in a farm accident and had to have the arm amputated. We tried to give accurate coverage to these events in the next issue, since the vacation papers always had to be printed prior to our leaving town. In 1966, THE LOWDEN NEWS also tried to help promote the Dr. Montz-Dr. Stofflet Day which was held on Sept. 10th. The following issue sported the heading, “1,500 Present To Say ‘Thank-You’ to Dr. Montz and Dr. Stofflet.” Dr. Stofflet, dentist, came to Lowden in 1921 and Dr. Montz, M. D., came in 1922. Getting back to vacations, no one knows how much it meant to us to have our advertisers and friends help us have a vacation each year. Many times, I contacted future bride-to-be’s and they would send me a copy of their wedding write-up a week before the actual ceremony took place. We would then print it in the vacation paper. (This was prior to the wedding, luckily not in one incident did either part back out, thus making the pre-news item bonafide.)
THE LOWDEN NEWS during the Sennett reign was always listed as a Republican paper, and both the S. E. Sennetts and Dick Sennetts have been active in county Republican conventions, etc. Presently Dick and Dorothy Sennett are serving as Republican committee man and committee woman from Springfield Township.
David Sennett, born March 7, 1944, son of the Dick Sennetts and grandson of the S. E. Sennetts began helping in the News office during his early high school days. He would get up very early on Thursdays to help assemble and fold the paper in preparation for mailing. After the local papers were in the Post Office, then the bundles and singles for out-of-town and out-of-state had to be stamped and wrapped. In later years, David would cast the cuts in the evening or early morning. That consisted of melting metal and casting the ads from mats. After they were cast, they then had to be trimmed with a saw before putting them into the forms. In 1972, he became a co-publisher of the News. It was then that the printing method was changed from letterpress to offset. In March of that year, the News plant was moved to the former Reinking Building at the corner of McKinley Ave. and Main Street. Since offset requires much camera work, David took charge of that department.
One of the incidents David remembers best during his helping with the news production was going to Reinbeck, Iowa where we had purchased a linotype. In the process of loading it, the linotype was dropped by the trucker who was hired to load it onto our truck. Luckily, it was in the deal that payment for it would be received after it was loaded, as the linotype was a complete loss.
After switching to offset, the number of pages of the News continued to grow as setting up of pages was so much faster and easier than doing it the hot-type method. December 18, 1974, we put out the largest LOWDEN NEWS to date – 28 pages. It involved many hours of overtime, but we think it reflected the holiday sentiment of most all businesses in the Lowden-Clarence and neighboring areas. Without the interest of the advertisers, such an issue would not have been possible.
During the years of the Sennett ownership, quite a number of persons were employed by them. They included Duane Mueller, who later was publisher of The What Cheer Chronicle for a number of years; also Walter Carstens and Robert Stahl, both who went on to be linotype operators at the Cedar Rapids Gazette for many years. High school youngsters employed at various times included Jim Koch, Robert Gottschalk; and in recent years, Michael Buttleman, Randy Eichelberger, Mary Lou Wiebel and Janie Sander. Also assisting in the last 3 years was David’s wife, Karen, who helped some with the typesetting which was now done on the Justowriters, a key-punching method.
In April of this year, THE LOWDEN NEWS was sold to the Tipton Conservative. It was a hard decision to make, but the days of the small newspaper operations are no more. Materials have to be bought in large quantities in order to make a profit, and the trend to central printing plants is here. We have placed the last issue of THE LOWDEN NEWS, published by the SENNETTS, under glass for safe-keeping. This is the March 26, 1975 edition. It was one of the hardest we remember putting out. Advertisers included Clarence Coop Co.; Lowden Feed Service; Licht Dept. Store; Chapman Sundries; Strackbein, Inc.; Gade Motor Co.; Dave Drewelow, painter; American Trust and Savings Bank; Ruprecht’s, Inc.; Clarence Savings Bank; Chapman-Dittmer Monuments; Lowden Meat Market; Iowa Electric Light and Power; Olsen’s Hardware; Stan Maurer Agency; Chapman Furniture; and others.
Just this month, THE LOWDEN NEWS has been merged with the NORTH CEDAR PRESS, a newspaper which already is serving three other communities, Clarence, Stanwood and Mechanicsville. Jeanette King is presently in charge of the Lowden News office and Sally Taylor is news editor.
No matter what the fate of THE LOWDEN NEWS turns out to be, we only hope that in some way, we have helped to keep Lowden from turning into a ghost or bedroom town as so many small towns have become during the past decade.
“LOWDEN” has been good to us, too!
