Last week, we covered Nebraska through Pennsylvania. Now, let’s take a look at our last 12 states.
Rhode Island – East Greenwich Pendulum
Today, they’re for the bond bill. Tomorrow, they’re against it. Geez, people, make up your minds.
This weekly (it comes out every Thursday) has a circulation of 3,500. It started in 1854.
Whence the “pendulum”? Well, the Interwebs are telling me that the paper used to be called the Rhode Island Pendulum and the Weekly Pendulum, though that’s not really helping any.
I did, though, find that, at one time, the paper was published in one city (E. Greenwich) one week and another (Wickford) the next. So maybe that’s it.
East Greenwich is smack-dab in the middle of Rhode Island. It’s got 13,300 people and dates all the way back to 1677. It started out as just Greenwich, but split into East and West in 1741.
South Carolina – The Island Packet (Hilton Head)
Again with the packets (see Maine and New Jersey). Interstingly, the SC paper is even newer than Maine’s, being founded in 1970. Not sure if they were using the same chronologically-challenged logic here or not.
The paper’s actually a daily, with a circulation of 16,000 (weekdays) / 17,000 (Sunday). It features an interesting combo of larger news along with local stuff and what I can only call clikbait and lightly veiled advertising.
Hilton Head is an island in the southern part of the state. It’s famous for golf, and is a lot more upscale than, say, Myrtle Beach. I spent a couple of vacation there with my family.
Honorable mention: The Item (Sumter)
South Dakota – Clark County Courier (Clark)
Alliteration always!
Clark County is in the northeast part of the state. It’s got less than 4,000 people.
And, yes, the county seat has the same name as the county. Other communities include Crocker, Carpenter, Cottonwood, and Collins Colony.
Wouldn’t you know – the Courier covers Coddington County as well. The paper was founded in 1880, not too long after the fouding of either county.
It comes out every week, on Wednesdays. Like most Wakipedia articles on small-town newspapers, the one on the Courier mostly goes through the changes in ownership. Seriously, I’m talking about 315 words in a 345-word article. You’ll be pleased to know that the paper was founded by one E.F. Conklin.
Honorable mention: True Dakotan (Wessington Springs)
Tennessee – The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarksville)
“The flat, green part of a plant that grows from a stem and makes food through photosynthesis”? I’m guessing not. “An extra flat piece added to expand a table”? Nah. “A single sheet of paper in a book”? Well, I guess that’s as close as we’re gonna come.
The “leaf” actually comes from a merger between the Clarksville Chronicle and the Tobacco Leaf, in 1880. The name of the latter comes simply from the area’s predominant crop.
The Chroincle dates all the way back to 1808. And tnat makes the Leaf-Chronicle the oldest paper in the state.
Today, the Leaf-Chronicle’s a daily, with over 20,000 subscribers. Its main claim to fame seems to be its being wiped out by a tornado in 1999, but without missing an edition.
Clarksville’s in the northeast part of the state, along the border with Kentucky. It dates back to 1785, and was named after George Rogers Clark, of Lewis & Clark fame.
Hard to believe, but it’s Tennessee’s 5th most populous city, with 167,000 people. It’s home to Austin Peay (a large state university) and is just a couple of miles away from Fort Campbell (home of the 101st Airborne), in KY.
Famous denizens include Roy Acuff, Wilma Rudolph, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, and William Westmoreland. Less famous ones include the wonderfully named Philander Claxton, Jeff Gooch, Ernest William Goodpasture, Ricky Lumpkin, Horace Harmon Lurton, Asahel Huntington Patch, Alex Poythress, and (of course) Austin Peay.
Texas – Jefferson Jimplecute
“A mythical creature, composed of elements of a dragon, an Indian, an armadillo, and a lion."? Probably not. “A slang term meaning ‘sweetheart’”? I doubt it.
How about “An acronym for the motto ‘Join Industry, Manufacturing, Planting, Labor, Energy, Capital (in) Unity Together Everlastingly’”? Well, seeing as it’s the paper’s motto, and appears in the masthead, I guess that’s going to have to do. That’s an obvious backronym, though, so I’m guessing that first definition might be the actual source.
The paper dates back to 1848 (making it Texas’s 5th oldest), comes out weekly, and has a circulation of just over 700. It seems to be mostly minutes from city council & commission meetings.
Jefferson is the county seat of Marion County, in the northeast part of the state. It was founded around 1840. There are less than 2,000 Jeffersonians.
Honorable mention
- Beeville Bee-Picayune
- Alpine Avalanche
- Comfort News
- Jasper Newsboy
Utah – Richfield Reaper
I like the alliteration here, but “reaper” makes me think only of “grim.”
I’m assuming, of course, that the name alludes to the area’s agricultural background. Previous names include the Sevier Advocate and Richfield Advocate. That first one dates back to 1887.
- The Reaper seems to have has something of a checkered past, including:
- The original owner being jailed for polygamy
- Another owner being the victim of an accidental shooting
- The paper’s office being torched by an arsonist
It comes out weekly, and features typical small-town paper stuff like high school sports, obits, local arrests, library notes …
Richfield’s in the center of the state, dates back to 1864, and hadsa population of 8,200. It is very Mormon.
Honorable mention: Wasatch Wave
Vermont – Barre Monpelier Times Argus
This name’s got double barrels on their double barrels.
As you probably guessed, that name is the result of a merger, between the Barre Daily Times and the Montepelier Evening Argus, in 1959. Thank god they at least dropped the “Daily” and “Evening.”
It’s a daily, has a circulation of 4,500, and got its start back in 1863. With Montpelier being Vermont’s capital, the paper features a lot of politics.
Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the US, at about 8,000. people Interestingly, the population swells on weekdays to about 22,000. It dates back to 1781.
Barre is about 7 miles southeast. It’s a little bigger (8,500) and just a year older (1780). It’s famous for its granite.
Both cities are in the north central part of the state.
Honorable mention: Bennington Banner
Virginia – Culpepper Star-Exponent
Is this a math thing?
Well, “exponent” can also mean proponent / champion / booster. So, no math required!
The paper comes out 3 times a a week. It originated from a 1953 merger between the Culpeppe Exponent (1881) and the Virginia Star (1919). Boy, does the online version have a lot of pop-up ads.
The wonderfully named Culpepper, the seat of Culpepper County, is in northern Virginia. It dates back to 1759, and currently has 21,000 people. There are a ton of associations with the Civil War.
Of the 22 famous Culpepperites listed on Wikipedia, I know 3 of them – Eppa Rixey (MLB HoF), A.P. Hill (CSA general), and Nell Arthur (FLOTUS). Not that they’re exactly household names …
Washington – Camas-Washougal Post-Record
Easy for you to say …
Another merger. This one took place back in 1930, combining the Camas Post (1908) & the Washougal Record (???). It’s a weekly, and goes out to about 10,000 people.
Camas and Washougal are right next to each other, on the Columbia River, and just upstream from Portland OR.
Camas is bigger, at 26,000 to 17,000. Washougal, though, is older (1880 vs. 1906). Camas is famous for a huge paper mill (the high school teams are knowns as the Papermakers). The wonderfully whacky name of Washougal is “of disputed meaning,” and has been variously spelled as “Wasough-ally," "Washougally", " Washookal", and "Wa-Shu-Go.”
Honorable mention:
- Concrete Herald
- Forks Forum
West Virginia – Spirit of Jefferson and Farmer's Advocate (Charlestown)
Speaking of mouthfuls …
Yet one more merger. This one happened in 1948, and combined the Spirit (1844) and Advocate (1890). The Spirit is actually the oldest newspaper in the state. The SJFA is a weekly, with a circulation of 4,200.
Charles Town is in the very easternmost part of the state, in that funny little hooky thing surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. Don’t confuse it with Charleston, the state capital.
Charles Town was founded in 1787 by (and subsequently named for) Charles Washington, George’s younger brother. Today, it has 8,900 people. Like Culpepper VA, Charles Town saw a lot of action in the Civil War.
Wisconsin – Boscobel Dial / Chetek Alert
Our first tie. It’s not that either of these names really stand out terribly. It’s just that there both mildly weird in a very similar way. I mean, take your odd town name, then combine it with an odd, possibly unique name for a newspaper. Put the two together, and you’ve got a winner.
Not sure where “dial” comes from. One definition makes it sound like it’s measure of something – like speed, or pressure, or temperature. So, I guess you could say the paper gives you a pulse on what’s happening in the town. The paper is a weekly and was founded in 1872.
Boscobel’s in the very southwesternmost part of the state. It’s got abut 3,300 people. Wikipedia claims 20 “notable people,” but I haven’t heard of a one.
“Alert” makes a little more sense, though I can’t recall any other papers with that name. It’s another weekly, and dates back to 1882.
Chetek’s ni the northwest part of the state. It has a population of 2,200. That odd name is Ojibwe for “pelicans” (though I’m not sure what pelicans were doing way up there).
Wyoming – Laramie Boomerang
There’s gotta be a story behind this one. I just know it!
Sure enough, the paper was named after the founder’s mule. He called it that “because he could trust the mule to return him home no matter how inebriated and disoriented [he] might've become.” That founder, by the way, was humorist Bill Nye, and basically made him famous.
Nyee started the paper in 1881. Today, it’s a daily, and has a circulation of 4,000.
You may have actually heard of Laramie. It’s got 31,400 people, dates back to the 1860s, and is the home of the Univ. of Wyoming. It also has plenty of frontier and Wild West associations.
Honorable mention: Rock Springs Daily Rocket-Miner
