The Mail-Journal, Volume 23, Number 22, Milford, Kosciusko County, 28 May 1986 — Page 26

THE MAIL-JOURNAL —Wed., May 28,1986

8

Milford Mail started in 1888

Files on early Milford newspapers have been lost. John W. Miller’s book, Indiana Newspaper bibliography, written for the Indiana Historical Society, points out the fact that Milford had its Independent introduced by George T. Ager and Orlando A. Rhine in early 1877 as a continuation of the Syracuse Enterprise, butithada brief existence, and little or nothing remains in its files. The News was inaugurated by F. J. McAlpine in 1876, and it also had a brief life span. Miller records that The Reflector, an independent journal, made its debut in 1879, but it, too was short-lived. The Times was established by J. A. Wertz in 1886 as a radical Prohibition party paper. In 1888 the paper was sold to J. W. Armstrong, who used the press to start the Kosciusko County Standard in Leesburg. One article uncovered in the old files states an out-of-state ;and sent what was purported to be a copy of Milford’s first newspaper to Milford banker Edwin W. Higbee. While it said the publisher was one Frank McAlpine, a former Milford teacher, it did not name the newspaper. Any single issue of that paper is lost in time. It was also understood that at one time Milford had a short-lived newspaper known as the Milford Herald. No copies of this are extant either. The Milford Mail The Milford Mail saw its first

THE MILFORD MAIL. MILFORD, KOSCIUSKO COUNTY, INDIANA, THUBSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1888. KO-1 The Eand Fair. <«»• “ •»“ bewLifai txbU SMITH&bO , Miles & H iff bee, intention of .railing Arina .sain iu ~ night b. drew Honnra. Mak««. ° •««’ ith ' l “' d * *>“ u f„,„ iu pl ron .f _ p*ny of >nd eomedixmi.— ford Cornet Ik.nd was inaugurated . dosed the store and start Benkers, Avilla New*- Dr. Goa-E-Lc-Ha has Wednesday night. The alUudancc for home _ Down the street, bedk.Fohlo WArk 001 * cl “««’ uno « i intention of was good, the enjoyment huge, and buriuc-s center where thHeat durable work DO A GENEBAL .railing Milforel with bra -wpert, tbnmtraio -port. but there -noted -at- -•ompa-J' of mtraician. .nd Conradi- to b. a wrot ot roinralion in the h -t-ta-aTTrTHTO ro.,’’nod lie probnbly won’t contort.. 7he eontcM tor the b«U » . Eeasoxxalole RAN KIN fr ““ ”* be, ,’“” ‘“.‘‘"'T ot 2. botaULI IN IYI IN U grinding.rod rrady » rocrot.ro- Sat- i"g tenderly to hi. brerottb. fragile date any amount of busiucas that ' . treasure he waa so impatient to haBRINGS THE TRADE TO "RTTQTIW'QQ n»y ’■•onio to it. If it dosen’t prove B n ‘® co " c stow. Onward still he sped, when JLS U OIJN Jboo. ; , . , • . nneht waw for i>opulanty and a silver ... . , to be about the proper thing for the » 1 K „. suddenly he commenced an exhiSHTH 4 SOB, ...... ™-f th. to. n, it in ££ bitiro ot gronod ami testy Umbimg. MilfOrd, 500. ole to imagine what will. A more ® n* He gyrated momentarily and then Milford Ind complete and well appointed mill ar ß e . * "•<**'«• ** ” his frantic and involuntary aerial Mlltora, ina. diSeult „ „ Jwhere . *M>~roi wb«*w mu- He w Mualimcun C. C. Shafer spent last Sunday in forth* many popular men w entitled . M'“** WTr Goshen. Asswear-off time approaches we t rvmacy . Newcome “T MILUXERT AHDIDRESSHAKIHG jKOb c . lp of Oo .ben, -- i. «>—. ,«i« u> „ d F p £ entend S MILFORD. IND. town on Friday. come more frequroL It "“L be Montgomery doming o.t with the bnainre. end ttaro-ring . . _ . that this promises much for sobriety . <mid.lw.sdod *» roUßU ‘' _ ™ ■ Samuel Brubaker of Goshen, was • i, llro d ucor v week of the m u circus to be an individual loaded S. J ’ u “ ru - in. Milford on Tbnreday. 1" ta T’ . r.’“ 8 *«• h"** «■ -«»l. Attornij-li-lw Wo will take a load or two ot ju ,' orlt nt . lt Tunwlay, bat thorn- P 10l *‘S 1,t *“ geroiu .polity ot liquor, and in a *Jnteiv rnhlif dry wood on subscription. .dlows will claw all the hide and The editor, the proprietor the dev- blissful state of NOUrJ rUDIIC. Niel Felkner has been spending hair u~ the habit trying to let go il, and in fact the whole operating wiil-toward-men, stretched across the AGf/letf, miL a jjQijjjg j n Milford with o f it. forec, is out of patience—yes, hoL sidewalk. Mr. Apple bent over the ■ n-wau. h» fwrrrily. lutlbol dcaJc „ WVve *en trying for two »«k. to author ot bu. elumhing . riw- '• Dr. Mianer of North Manchaater, MperivKin „ , criM .. get out the hrot wane of the Mol gle unbroken glare dwk ATTORKR-AT-LAW ww guMl of S h^„ r 4 Brown ThM the firm, it if .aid, The fore part of lt»t week we had tn hi. heart, and a. W rwwnd Aa HSURMKEAGENT “ Th J.X. JdXX —t «■“ JIBUmEAbEIT. MiiM AMBd> of cruJiuin lhc pl , r ,-ben our -ene. of mu- “H. of Goahon, .pent Sunday with th, nave drirwUlom to the walk We f-"”"- —- « d » b “””“ '"'XJX 17. ~.1. “ — family of MS. Apple. .run the Snw. i. not » reriooMy An reetdeul w onr automaue oer'e went to Jo FE. RHORER Mr. «d Mm. CIUtD. F««r, foe eompiiea-TU roporud, thre ..-a, XXyXXIZX —1 X -Hy »f ibi. of Wriken eatrie.ro i«!f from rimi-rreeutdil' ™ I I at Albion laat week. LaPorro Foot: Deputy Shen# „„, inclL Wo viewed the .ituation bad hovered over him. That gave away the Pig. W e proteat againat meh an ex- Uo , cn b „ - w jtb oom . on the on- MAN AND HIS WATCH. I'resit. Smoked and Salt ecrable admixture of different aorta Jobn Pohaklurnalowkobouki Kmc tbingu and the Meats, Lard and “ f «*0» » the paw wook hre as w , ppe „ in „. <C r to the nßUbiu , y ,1 whittled aoftly; A vreakneaa which FloaMea Tallow forded. complaint ot Joaepb Chxrow.biliw - Alm.mwm In Rt<wk ** ■*™ i 7 , o ‘ k L Arominriemkay. Bowen ia the mUli Tuomlay Iret we ware Itb , of wM mon Always in BXOCK. beautiful .unrhine of Sunday had only niuu iu the city who eau pro- . u .„ d „, iv "T- 'j partiowMILFORD. IND. concealed about ..ounce there namo. and he aoff.red JTa.’Xw W. ">t m itaperwm a rover, frocture of the jawbone Lw , gJ Wo got. UtTOr of T „ CJw X w XVlGder® The north Maiu street saloon was fore hw accomplished it. enquiry. We wired a quarter’s »lr»w t and aome rua Dealer in closed up last Monday, at the di- An Indiana democrat who moved worth, and philosophised a little f|Mrt . their,. Such watches rcction of the creditor* of the firm, w g sn>Mt ran for congress and more earnestly on the situation. Wo belong to other people. O we understand. was overwhelmingly defeated, ex- waited with patience until Wedncs- There are two possessions of the Xjl 1 V/ V/ Kzl it/ O Harry Sterling’s tonsorial parion p| a i nß t bc matter in this way. “The day when the delay commenced to mo d ern die quality of which arc furnished with a costly elegence republicans are like bees. Ordin- disturd our equanimity to just the no maat presume to call in Provisions, seldom seen in a place the siae of you can see a few flying larily least possible degree. Thursday questio*—his dog and his watch. M Milford. about their hive, not taking much everybody met us with “What’s the y<m value yo«r friend’s friendNotions, Brown went to Goshen interest in anything apparently, matter with Mail?” We were sev- gpeah slightingly of Confectionery, Monday night to spend Cbrtstmas. But let some fool come along and eral times vouchsafing, “O, its a—!” F . He returned Friday morning, a few hit the gum a whack, and they come when it occurred to us that wo had yoa uUme th, time?” naked Jays late, and furnishes no expiana- out by the million, and he must run misapprehended the sentiment o. B maa ontbe “L” road of a fellowJJ~LIAI |T~I Uon " or die - 1 hit ff®™-” - Albion the question, and it wasn’t, anyway, He drew forth his Judging from the manner in which New Era. Yesterday (Friday) the repairs ar- watch e xplaired that it <kd run M,™ .trett .» crowded latt Sat- “ k-ttle w ; t ZKoAmr MooiM orio. poU for urd.y the day ma.t have Troin Wreckera. „„ the Mxm thi. mormng w. get „„„ w .ubre were * l-wn oro |i«e of satisfactory results °® u we haT * P reTIOB, y extracted from seven pockets, off hfads qf ommWy Avduos. business men. r ' lc Churubusco People gives uounced the whole force is hot and M j t j, BOW replisd the man I —sLa-vn— -on of our fo,lowi,, 8 ««» unt of • devilish ho has little faith in fortune, still to w hom the query was asked. ▼km Imsammrlml nmrlmr J M Serv’oss. has eon- *«*••■* * tt * ra P t u train lees in Chicago supply bouses and a -You arc mid a fat man Tha tonsonil panor —- OF “? “ '"■‘““pob-. bat will re- obKnlction , o „ thc „ i|rold Thia wrok'a Albio. New Era eon- uTbo , ime b S:W w roren u. SWfor.l. (weeatbi. place and Collin. The Irat Uiro a baronial poetroal roatnba , e hap with a atop. Warrv Cltprlinn "• p “ bl " “ h001 ’ clo, “ !“* Be»di.h .tro»pt at «« .™«king ti«by «• editor, jf. p™k««. purr* UK P , I , y Fridays a two week, vrerouon, 3bout m<mtb , rot.ded,-Chnttro-Moro. It™. poUMM> . remJirf . and the Milford ™all boy that onfMU wreloh moat toachiag little poem, tender, drwn my „ ull for b the plrow for a hM n’t expanded a foot or two w>th , p | icM in , cul „ rt wilb pathetic rod breathe, th. redolence j „„„ k „, „ „ . . —. delight i’rat belli the right way. end. protroding .boat eight ot poetic boanty ■ . de two rooond. oat of th. way. It Retresnin* nnsve Groben ÜBOV kicking for attract induuL Had. writ boand train Jlmm . .a. -y. ano 1-4- and Hl Ut that ia ar a railway. The tone of the New.. tt „ ck them the remit weald have time h,,, Henry Zironon, right." rmisu RAIHCOT ALSO araaUy bold rod rigoroo.™ mature direttrtnm bnt happily an can h- ,n—_dhi.rorvi«» u> Sbtter* -Hlttke that,-mid tba ,40 X-. STYLISH HAIIbCUT. ALSO o , b „ Uk , eonrorvtttro ,„ in Sm „d ben. “ .p,. u. dniUre wbiok HOT AND COLD regarding the matter, and adviroa th.tn o.er. The ffend again laat ... d.tiaaof hi. row any. ary watch ia accurate to tba FiAT I—l tl Itiaaaidbycidtiiaera, who eaa ceeafel attempt by plating a large -I don’t ear. a ataaw what yoa ■ uro———-—— give an accural, account of the fence nil ia a bridge joat wrot of What a Fall. My Coaatrymea. f e ||owa' warobro any," obippad ia a Tre-yyre ClrvrvT n'rt weather for every day eiaoa here. Thia time the rail broke oae maa who had baea waiting, watch tlflnlP nllrljnvi ,k “ la* Taeeday wan preciaely like of the timber, in tba bridge bat did Mr. M. 8. Apple, the genial aad „ brod, fro .ohroce ia bo hoard: one of ISIS. Tbi. ia reran infer- no other damage. Th. latert at- gentlemanly manager of the Milford b „„ preeiroly S:SI 1-4. It Bmlmwro motion lhe public baa been yearning tempt waa laat Taeeday evening. Furniture Comproy’. More ia warm; „t* t . a ohro tba genthman for, rod we row happy in being able ,bei ha placed a bar of iron be- in lact, be ia decidedly iacaadoecoat ti.ro” Qhawifur Davssr Wffi'riL tw»th.raa.of tba wont ewtab .beet the Utitwle ot An onnt. .Wan, who wrote to haob Ma UilaVlllk WIUAUI am, „f the tdeaaanteet ,oei.l at tbit plane- Ho uadoebrodly ia- A few daya ago it occurred to Mm mroror peraialad the H taro rv.nl. of the eeaaon w» the reeond tended thia for the fact evening ex- that acme teetimonial from himretf « M<m . y talk." HJXUBIOVS SHAVES, Mi)to?d Dkncing preaebat be waa again foiled, aa the to hi. wife to tbow hi. profound ap- By thi. time the mu who wanted STYLISH IIAHLCVTS Clnb on Teewi.y night The com- -etma -eu wU. -roe ooraing ia pevejuon of her muy H to « hi. wttch hrol doro re, rod n. n « MM nil it should be and the about five o’clock discovered ths ob- tms would bo about ths proper thing i e f t the car; ami it wiU never ho Qrilot JLyrim <mc/«Voy to **7* eMM ded if übseiMe struction in time to prevent any set- u> index for Christmas, and accord- known which time he aoeepted as UWdro St pre—are. ’ - «-«• Mgi, be iavroTOl to a geuerou. u- rorreeb-W. H. Suiter, m keK FRONT PAGE OF FIRST MILFORD MAIL Dated December 27, 1888

edition come off the presses in December of 1888, an odd time of year to begin a new enterprise of this time, noted M-J Publisher Arch Baumgartner in a recent speech to the county historical society. Old records in the Milford Public Library show that first edition as Volume 1, No. 1, with the masthead revealing that one Harry M. Williams was editor and publisher. The paper, whose right hand, page 1 “ear” said the paper was “$1.50 a year,” was a 13 pica, five-column page, 18 inches deep, and usually eight pages of which four were “ready-print” provided by a Chicago firm known as the Western Newspaper Union, long since defunct. It was customary in those early days for weekly newspapers to be run off on two-page, single revolution drum presses. Thus, the front and back pages were printed early. The irony of this procedure was that any late news appeared on pages four and five. Pages two and three and pages six and seven were printed by the Chicago firm and glued together, then shipped to the local publisher. Following the printing process, the paper was handfolded, usually mailed on an old hand-operated wing mailer and taken to the local post office for delivery. Harry M. Williams was editor and publisher of The Milford Mail for a period of just over two months, then in March of 1889 Rev.

William Elsea Groves, staunch Democrat by political persuasion and pastor of the fledgling Milford Methodist Church, purchased half interest in the paper. In June of that year. W. E. Groves, as he became affectionately known, became sole owner and editor of the paper, a job he held for more than 30 years. Groves had a real flair for speaking and writing, and the tone of The Milford Mail took on a more professional flavor, even though it continued to rely heavily on personal news of who was visiting whom and who had Sunday dinner with whom. This was the everyday grist of community life in those early days. It was assumed The Milford Mail from its origin was printed and published in a wood frame two-story building on the south side of East Emeline Street. The only existing evidence of this is an old photograph taken of the east side of Main Street the day after the 1902 fire which burned out that section of old wood frame buildings. In the background is this small building, with a wood sign extending out over the sidewalk, with black lettering stating, in capital letters: PRINTING OFFICE. High on the wooden front of the building are, also in capital letters: MILFORD MAIL. Some years later about 1916, the offices of The Milford Mail were moved to the new, rebuilt south side of Main Street, but the two-story frame building on East

K 1

W. E. GROVES

Emeline Street remained. On the west wall of the second floor someone had crudely painted in white paint with a hand brush: The Milford Mail. Circulation 1,000. This was quite a fete in those early days, to have a weekly newspaper with a circulation of 1,000. Most papers of this type had far less circulation. It was a tribute to the journalistic talents of editor Groves. He was gifted at coming up with little one-or two-line witticisms, which he usually ran in a column on the front page of each week’s paper, under the heading, “Thistles. “ They were widly read and quoted. Groves, knowing little about the back shop — typesetting, running presses, clean-up — confined his activities on the paper pretty much to the front office. He was constantly relying on what was called “tramp printers,” a unique genre of people who went from job to job, traveling with the weather. They would often fail to show up for work on Monday morning.

Ki (

JACK FORBING

This the lot of editor Groves, until one day one Anthony J. (“Jack”) Forbing showed up. A gifted back shop man in what was known then as “the printing office,” Forbing liked his job and he liked Milford, a growing, clean small town. And what’s more he met a local lady in Miss Florence VanAuken, and this gave him added reason to remain in Milford. It seemed only natural that Groves and Forbing

JH.: '

C.D. BARNES

would form a partnership. Particularly so since Forbing and Hiss VanAuken were to be married. An editorial on page 4 of the August 4, 1921, issue of The fiilford Mail announces Groves’ jretirement as active editor. Forbing retained his interest until August 5,1939. The editorial which announced Groves’ retirement, also served to introduce Carlyle D. Barnes as the new partner in the newspaper. Barnes was well and vridly known. He attended the I filford public schools, and in his {dult life was a painter with his father, the late James Barnes. Paper Sold In 1939 A. J. Forbing was 59 years of age and tiring from the grind of publishing the t ewspaper and doing most of the printing for the community. C. D. l ames had an opportunity to join the Citizens State Bank as its teller, a position that would provide a steady income and perhaps even be less demanding. They sold their newspaper to Arch Baumgartner on August 5, 1939. Baumgartner was 21 years of age. Needless to say, his experience in journalism and the intricacies of typesetting and page makeup were meager to nonexisting. The assets of The SyracuseWawasee Journal were purchas'd in 1961 by Della and Arch Baumgartner and for a short time two both papers were published. In February of 1962 The Milford Mail, by now the oldest weekly newspaper in Kosciusko County, and The Syracuse-Wawasee Journalbecame The Mail-Journal. The newspapers in the county lid not bring the total market coverage (to become known in he trade as TMC) that mer:hants desired to better advertise heir wares. Earlier, TMC publications, isually in the form of free iistribution publications, began to catch on in heavily populated centers throughout the country. The advent of photo offset printing, by this time coming to the forefront very rapidly in all progressive printing plants, made for faster and more efficient reproduction. This saw, somewhat revolutionary method of printing fit into the new concept of total market coverage hand-in-glove. Area merchants began mounting pressure on area publishers for wider circulation of their advertisements. Publishers of The Mail-Journal became convinced the time was appropriate for Kosciusko County to have a total market coverage publication, and thus the idea of ‘the PAPER’ was born. It seemed like an idea whose time had come. The first issue of this new publication, which was referred to as a “free newspaper,” came off the press on June 30,1971. ‘the PAPER’ has been issued weekly without interruption since that time. It was an immediate success with advertisers and the reading public alike. Today The Mail-Journal, serving as the flagship subscription publication, is issued each Wednesday through the U. S. mails and through a network of counter sales. It has a paid circulation of nearly 3,800 and is devoted more heavily to area news coverage. The printing firm was incorporated under the statues of the State of Indiana on November 17, 1972. The officers are: Arch Baumgartner, chairman of the board of directors; Ronald L. Baumgartner, president; Della M. Baumgartner, secretarytreasurer; and Gloria Baumgartner, assistant treasurer.