Home > Records > History Main > 1884 History Index

The first newspaper printed in Atlantic was the Cass County Messenger, by H. C. Johnson, who removed his office from Lewis in the spring of 1869. The paper is now called the Atlantic Messenger, the publisher being J. H. WiHey. The second paper was called the Daily Free Press and was established in the summer of 1869 by Upham and Sibley, E. O. Upham being the editor. In July or August, 1870, the paper suspended. In February, 1871, Lafe Young established the Atlantic Telegraph, which he continues to publish. In the spring of 1876, a new cylinder press and steam engine were put into the office. In May, 1874, D. M. Harris, established a Democratic paper called the Cap Sheaf, which he conducted until the fall of 1875, when he sold the office to James Pugh, who started a temperance paper called the Northwestern Journal. The Journal lived until the spring of 1876, when it was suspended. Shortly after the suspension of the Journal, the material was used in reviving the Cap Sheaf, by J. A. Crawford and others. The revived paper lasted but a few weeks. December 1, 1876, Goldie Brothers and Collins took possession of the office and started the Atlantic Democrat, with Charles Collins as editor, which lived just three months. In August, 1880, the Cass County Democrat was founded by Charles F. Chase, who is running it yet. Several other papers have been run here, all of which are noted at length in the Press chapter, in an earlier part of this book.

S. E. Huse was the first justice of the peace, being appointed in 1869. He held the office but a short time.

At the general election in October, 1869, Atlantic won the county seat, from Lewis. The vote stood for Atlantic, 618; for Lewis, 275; majority in favor of Atlantic, 343. The county offices were moved from Lewis to Atlantic in December, 1869. The main contest over the county-seat matter, and the main excitement, was at and previous to the June meeting of the board of supervisors, when that body was asked to order a vote on the question of removal. For weeks before the supervisors met, men were scouring the county with petitions and remonstrances, and there was not a man in the county but what had signed one or the other, and some vertebrateless fellows had signed both.

Tuesday July 18, 1871, about 5 p. m., a rain and hail storm passed across Cass county, from the northwest to the southeast, doing a great deal of damage to crops. The storm belt was about five miles wide. In Atlantic, the damage to buildings was severe. A new brick store room, just up and enclosed, belonging to Stafford and Hawks, was blown down. Its size was 23x80 feet. D. F. Hawks and A. D. Boyd, were in the building at the beginning of the storm, trying to put boards up in front to protect the plastering. Mr. Hawks escaped without injury, but Mr. Boyd was struck on the head by a falling pillar, and considerably injured. He recovered. John Lawson, a Swede workman, was buried in the ruins, but was taken out and found to be not seriously injured. The new Presbyterian church was damaged to the amount of five hundred dollars. Much damage was done to property in town by the breaking of window glass. The storm was very unusual, none like it ever occurring in this section before or since.

Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, March, 2022 from: "History of Cass County, Together with Sketches of Its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens", published in 1884, Springfield, Ill: Continental Historical Co., pp. 898-899.