of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 393-394
JOURNAL PRINTING COMPANY ORGANIZED. In 1878 the Journal Printing Company was organized, which corporation, though its stock has been held by different individuals at different times, has continued until the present day as the owner of the Journal, paper and plant. Those listed as the first officers of the concern were John Mahin, John B. Lee and A. W. Lee.
In 1861 Mr. Mahin was appointed postmaster of Muscatine and at that time another change in location of the office was made, this change bringing it within an alley's width of its present location. At this time the office was established in the second story of the building now occupied on the first floor by the Joseph Bilkey harness shop.
In 1867, Mr. Mahin secured from Isaac R. Mauck the two twenty-foot lots and the building standing on them, at 114 and 116 Iowa avenue, this property being across the alley from the building where the Journal was then located. These lots extended back sixty-one feet. They were the first real-estate holdings of the Muscatine Journal and comprise the site on which the Journal now stands. To these buildings the office of the Journal was removed, the paper changing its location for the last time up to the present day. It has occupied the same site for forty-three years. In 1904 after the purchase of the paper by Mr. Lee and his associates, the old building was torn down and the present modern newspaper home erected in its place.
A. W. LEE ENTERS JOURNAL OFFICE. In 1874, when the late A. W. Lee was but sixteen years of age, he had left college at Iowa City and had come to Muscatine to take a position in the postoffice, Mr. Mahin being at that time postmaster. About two years later he left the postoffice and became a reporter for the Journal. Previous to this, John B. Lee, his father and the father-in-law of Mr. Mahin, had come from Iowa City to Muscatine and was acting in the capacity of business manager of the paper. About the time of the organization of the Journal Printing Company, or a little later, the younger Lee began to show evidence of the splendid ability along the line of commercial management of newspapers, which became so conspicuous in his later life, and he became at first in fact, and later in both name and fact, business manager of the Journal.
This management continued until January, 1889, when John Mahin and John Lee Mahin, his eldest son, purchased the entire concern, the capital stock at that time being $20,000. John Lee Mahin entered the employ of the Journal in 1885 and was city editor of the paper from September, 1887, to March, 1889, when, upon A. W. Lee's leaving the Journal to go to Chicago, he was made business manager, a position he held until 1891, when he, too, left for Chicago to enter a larger field.
During the next few years the brunt of the management of the paper fell upon Mr. Mahin, who was ably assisted by a number of subordinates, including W. M. Narvis and F. W. Eichoff of this city, and W. C. Hoefflin, now of Chicago. About 1900, Mr. Mahin's second son, Harold J. Mahin, assumed the responsibilities of business manager, which position he retained until he went to Washington, D. C., in August, 1902.
In 1900 J. M. Beck, publisher of the Centerville Iowagian, came to the Journal, first as reporter and later became managing editor. He remained in the latter position until 1903, when he was succeeded by H. M. Sheppard, of the Ottumwa Courier.
PAPER JOINED TO LEE SYNDICATE. In January , 1903, A. W. Lee, W. L. Lane and H. M. Sheppard purchased the stock of the Journal Printing Company. Mr. Lane, who afterward became publisher, had before this time acted as business manager of the Journal and soon after the purchase Mr. Sheppard came from Ottumwa to join him in the conduct of the paper, which was at this time added to the Lee syndicate of newspapers.
In May, 1905, F. D. Throop the present publisher of the paper came to Muscatine from Sterling, Illinois, to take the position of managing editor. He had been employed from 1901 until 1903 as city editor of the Journal. Under the direction of Mr. Lane as publisher and Mr. Throop as managing editor the paper prospered and made great strides. In January, 1907, Mr. Lane's death occurred, after a period in which he had battled valiantly for the recovery of his health. Following his death Mr. Throop was advanced to the position of publisher, while L. P. Loomis became managing editor.
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