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State of Iowa Official Register
Thirty-Ninth Number,
1941-1942
~ transcribed by S. Ferrall for the IAGenWeb Special Project - Iowa History
Iowa's Newspapers
No report on Iowa's greatness would be complete without
recognition of its newspapers. There is scarcely a home in the
state which fails to receive a daily newspaper; many homes
receive several Iowa newspapers.
To no small extent Iowa owes its reputation for literacy to
its newspapers. Iowa citizens want to be informed; and to
their newspapers, more than to any other source, they turn for
enlightenment upon current issues and problems, and for
entertainment and even amusement.
Iowa's first newspaper, 1836
The story of the beginnings of Iowa's newspapers is of more
than passing interest.
John King established Iowa's first newspaper, the Du Buque
Visitor, on May 11, 1836, and continued until June 3, 1937.
One of the events of the Iowa Centennial celebration, in 1938,
was the general recognition of the part which this pioneer
paper played in the establishment of Iowa and its future
development. A handsome Centennial edition of the paper had
been issued in Dubuque on the hundredth anniversary of its
founding.
The second Iowa newspaper was established by Dr. Isaac Galland,
in 1837, at the town bearing his name, in Lee County, now
generally known as Montrose. It was called the Western
Adventurer, and lasted nine months. The machinery was sold to
James G. Edwards, who moved it to Fort Madison, where it was
called the Patriot and became an organ of the Whig party.
During Iowa's territorial years, no less than 24 newspapers
were started, only 10 of which had survived when Iowa entered
the union as a state in 1846. One of these was the Territorial
Gazette and Advertiser, established in 1837, which is now
published under the name of the Burlington Hawk-Eye and
Gazette, being a combination of the two papers bearing these
names.
Other Historic Newspapers
one of the names closely associated with the old Hawk-Eye was
Frank Hatton, who learned the newspaper trade in Ohio, served
through the Civil War with Union Army, and later on became a
partner with Robert J. Burdette in the proprietorship of the
Hawk-Eye. Hatton was assistant Postmaster General from 1881 to
1884; and Postmaster General under President Chester A. Arthur
in 1884 and 1885, the youngest cabinet member since Alexander
Hamilton. Later, he became editor of the Chicago Mail and the
Washington Post. Robert Burdette, his partner in the Hawk-Eye,
was not only a great editor but likewise a noble humorist. He
wrote "The Rise and Fall of the Mustache," which immediately
became one of the best sellers of its time.
Another famous newspaper of the southeastern section of Iowa
is the Keokuk Gate City, long in the possession of the Howell
family; perhaps it's best known editor being "Sam" Clark, as
scholarly a man as Iowa journalism has ever produced; a member
of Congress from that district for several years.
Other notable pioneer Iowa newspapers were the Iowa City
Press, of which John P. Irish assumed the editorship in 1864;
the Sioux City Journal, established in 1870 by George D.
Perkins and his brother; the Des Moines Capital, edited and
published for many years by Lafe Young, one of the most
picturesque figures Iowa ever produced, United States Senator
from Iowa for a short time; the Oskaloosa Herald, with which
Colonel Al. Swalm was connected for many years; the Cedar
Rapids Republican, with which the name of Cyrenus Cole is so
prominently associated; the Muscatine Journal, of which Orion
Clemens was editor in the fifties of the last century and
where Mark Twain helped him intermittently; the Council Bluffs
Nonpareil, under the late William R. Orchard; and the Iowa
State register, now an integral part of the Register and
Tribune.
Dailies and Weeklies of Prestige
There are more than a score of daily newspapers in Iowa which
give to the immediate localities which their services center,
assets which cannot be fully appreciated. All these daily
newspapers present, to a greater or lesser extent, the
opinions of the nations recognized best feature writers and
political and social fields, and these messages, presenting
the cream of thought an investigation into the field of
politics -- in the sense of good government -- have placed the
average Iowan on a plane of high intelligence and legislative
understanding.
Lacking none in the presentation of a thought provoking and
guiding influence are scores of lesser journals, of semiweekly
and weekly periodical publication. The "country" editors of
Iowa, whose praises are generally unsung, and whose
compensation is upon a small scale, are the backbone of Iowa
thought and action. When one meets a group of Iowa weekly
newspaper editors in convention, he is face-to-face with the
guiding genius of Iowa public opinion. Iowa weekly and
semiweekly newspapers, and the small town dailies, have a
combined circulation which secure the entrance of one or more
of them into most of the homes of Iowa. The chosen
representatives of the people, assembled in the states General
assembly, give close heed to the opinions of their hometown
editors, as a rule.
Three Awarded Pulitzer Prize
No small part of Iowa's leadership in literacy can be traced
to the prevalence of Iowa newspapers in the homes; and to a
large extent the editorial columns of these newspapers are one
of the most potent forces for good within the state.
Three Iowa daily newspaper editors have been honored with the
Pulitzer Prize, a distinguished honor originated by the late
Joseph Pulitzer, editor and owner of the New York World and
St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Iowans thus honored are Verne
Marshall of the Cedar Rapids Gazette; E. P. Chase of the
Atlantic News Telegraph, and William W. Waymack of the Des
Moines Register and Tribune. |
