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Whiteside Co Villages > Fulton - The Press 1885

Portrait & Biographical Album of Whiteside Co. 1885

THE PRESS

The Fulton Journal - Feeling that it was essential to the growth and prosperity of Fulton to have an organ to represent its interests, Judge James McCoy and John Phelps got together and determined favorably for the project. Accordingly, in the fall of 1853, they sent to St. Louis and purchased a press and a newspaper outfit. The press was shipped by a steamboat, but it was so late in the season when the boat started that her passage up the river was obstructed by ice, and she was obliged to put in at Rock Island, where the material for Fulton's future exponent was stored for the winter. When navigation opened in the spring, the press was brought up.

Not being printers, the projectors of this enterprise secured the services of a practical printer in the person of A. McFadden, of Freeport, who came and took charge, organized the office and issued the first number in May, 1854. It was issued as the Whiteside Investigator, and was the first paper published in the county. It was a very respectable sheet for that period. Messrs. McCoy & Phelps had erected a two-story brick building for the use of the press, on the corner of Short and Union Streets. McFadden bought the paper from McCoy & Phelps, and subsequently took in G. A. Laighton as a partner. Later on, Laighton became sole owner, and changed the name to Fulton City Advertiser. He improved the paper, and was assisted in the editorial department by Dr. C. A. Griswold and Messrs. Goot & Lewis. In 1856, the Advertiser advocated the election of James Buchanan for the Presidnecy, which changed its editorial staff. Subsequently Laighton became involved in debt and quit the country, leaving the paper in the hands of subordinates, and after a few issues it suspended.

In 1859 the press was leased to G. J. Booth and B. C. Galliday, and a paper was issued by them under the name of the Weekly Courier, which was republican in politics. In a few months Galliday withdrew and Booth had entire charge. In the spring of 1863 Mr. Booth purchased the plant from Laighton, and changed the name to the Fulton Journal, which name has been continued to the present time. In 1866. Mr. Booth took his son into the office, and the paper was carried on under the name of G. J. Booth & Son.

In 1872, Mr. George Terwilliger purchased the establishment and became editor and proprietor. In the fall of the same year he sold a half interest to Dr. W. C. Snyder, who relived Mr. Terwilliger of the business department.  

In March, 1876, Mr. Snyder purchased the entire interest, retaining Mr. Terwilliger as editor. Mr. Terwilliger withdrew in November. 1876, and afterwards Thoms. J. Pickett, Jr. leased the paper from Dr. Snyder. Subsequently, Mr. Pickett and J. C. Snyder purchased it. In 1878, W. R. Cobb bought out Pickett's interest. In 1880 it was purchased by the Sterling Gazette Company and J. C. Snyder retained as editor. In 1881, Fred K. Bastian, who was local editor of the Gazette, purchased the entire interest. In August of the same year, his brother A. W. came in as a partner, and the Journal has since been conducted jointly by them. During this year the Journal was changed to a seven-column folio semi-weekly paper. It was first published as a Democratic paper. In 1859, it was changed to a Republican paper and remained so until 1881, when it became an inddependent Democratic journal. It haas a splendid job office and one of the best composition rooms in the country.

The Journal is now in its 31st volume, with a large and increasing ciruculation. It is a bright newpaper, containing all the important news of the day, devoted to the interests of Fulton and the country, ably edited and one of the leading papers of the country.

Fulton Star - This paper was established by Rev. George W. Perry, the first issue coming out Jan. 4, 1883. It is a neat, newsy, five-column quarto weekly journal, well conducted, with a ciruculation of about 500. It was established as a Republican paper. In March 1885, it became a Prohibition sheet, accepting a proposition extended by this party to be their offical organ for Whiteside County. It is the prospective organ of this party of this Senatorial District. Mr. Perry is a retired member of the Rock River Methodist Episcopal Conference. He has been a zealous advocate of prohibition for many years. On account of ill health, Mr. Perry recently retired from the paper, and it is now owned and conducted by his sons, George T. and W. F. Perry.

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