J.C. Cole left the Shannon City Sun (newspaper) around 1900. P.B. Wilson ran the Sun Newspaper for a time around 1900-1902. G.B. Coate was back at the helm of the weekly paper in 1903-1904.
By 1911, The Sun was still being printed, but had changed hands after Mr. Coate left. In the fire of March 1905, A. W. Stryker was completely wiped out. J.C. Cargill associated with the paper. Gertrude Foster and Lena Snider both worked in the Sun office before 1907 as type setters. B.W. Lanning was the printer in 1906-1907.
He announced in June 1909 that he would close due to lack of patronage. However, the paper kept on printing. Horace S. Greeley printed the paper thru 1912. Mr. Greeley lived in the back of the print shop across the road from the Methodist Church with his son, Max.
In Dec. 1910, Horace l. and Rosa Bishop sold a newspaper in Lorimor for a farm south of Shannon City. But, farming wasn't for the Bishops; and in 1911, they built an office on the farm (where Marie Woolsey lives) and did printing.
The printers ink was under Horace's fingernails. In 1912, they took over the paper in town and renamed it the Star. The Star printed until early 1915. Their son, Clarke, was born June 24, 1913, and he was pulled in his baby buggy down the hill to Shannon City in order that his parents could get the paper out on schedule.
The Star stopped printing in early 1915 and G.A. (Art) Snyder started the Messenger on Nov. 18, 1915.
Vera M. Jacobson took over the Messenger on September 1, 1916. She was only 20 and a woman in a field that was dominated by men. The paper was located in a building north of the Savings Bank. In November 1915, the paper moved to an office vacated by Dr. Kyle under the Busy Corner Store. Beth Kirby and Agnes Wasson (Eklund) worked for her.
On the railroad time tables, they had three passenger, 2 weight freight and 1 freight trains going west and 3 passenger, 3
freight trains going east daily. Frank Rokey was the agent.