The Mail-Journal, Volume 26, Number 20, Milford, Kosciusko County, 1 July 1987 — Page 38
THE MAIL-JOURNAL —Wed., July 1,1987
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Syracuse has had several newspapers
The Enterprise was established by J. P. Prickett in January 1875. A few months later, F. J. - McAlpine bought the press and sold it in early 1877 to George T. Ager and Orlando A. Rhine. The new owners moved the press to Milford where it became The Independent.
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Happy 150th Birthday Syracuse We Are Proud To r* •I *=h Be Starting Our /t\ X/j laJ stx Hrst Year ... \ '&'/ a proven leader n .. " a in com p^ ete '—/ 5 ij \_y” 0 \ assisted healthcare “tw— m- n & L | (k —1 jty Q . ’ I Merry Manor, Inc. ‘ -L:_. r, , , , Pickwick Drive & Old State Road 13 ’ 1° °; Post Office Box 8 iaahrty : . i “ Syracuse, Indiana 46567 ! : 219-457-4401 The Healthcare Professionals With The Hometown Touch
The Gazette was introduced by George W. Miles in 1876 as an independent publication and was folded in 1879. The Express was formed in 1880 as a Republican party-backed paper, but it had a short life. The Syracuse Journal, Indiana Journaland Syracuse-Wawasee
Journal are all names of the Syracuse home newspaper from the turn of the century on. The Journal was begun by Garfield Walker and John Fancil in 1908 as an independent publication. In 1909, the partners sold the paper to Ed C. Graham, who, in turn, sold out in 1912 to George C. Snyder. In 1916, Snyder sold the Journal to Preston H. Miles, who owned the paper for six years and disposed of it toH.A. Buettner. Harry L. Porter purchased the Syracuse Journal August 15,1929, selling it on February 6, 1936, to Floyd Allan Weatherholt of Cumberland, Allegheny County, Md., Weatherholt came to Syracuse with a solid background in journalism, having been associate editor of The Cumberland (Maryland) Evening and Sunday Times. At this time, during the mid
and late 19305, William Edgar (“Ed”) Long of Chicago, bought lakefront property on Kale Island, and began an ambitious program that would provide a face-lift for the town of Syracuse. His most ambitious program was to build what became known as the Pickwick Block in uptown Syracuse. When Long had friends come to visit, they had to go through the city dump to get to his lakefront home, so he devised a plan to make the dump into a park which is now known as Lakeside Park. He was instrumental in planting magnolia trees to beautify Syracuse and built thfe Japanese Gardens (later renamed Chinese Gardens) on an island near his Pickwick Park home W. E. Long took an avid interest in the Syracuse newspaper, finally installing a modern, eight-page Cox-O-Type press and for a time printing a daily newspaper, replete with splashy headlines, and distributing it free to a number of surrounding communities. It was editor Weatherholt who helped in this project. The /paper was renamed the Indiana Journal, to give it a broader appeal, and it was Long’s idea to make Syracuse the gateway to Lake Wawasee as the recreational center of the midwest. In 1939, J. Barton Cox, DeMotte native, moved to Syracuse and took over a weekly Syracuse News from Hubert Stump, South Whitley, located in a building on Henry Street which later became the home of Harold Kitson's plumbing business. For a brief period, Cox ran his newspaper there and Long, his Syracuse Journal in the Pickwick Block. It was a loser for both parties, and Long invited Cox to join him and move into his uptown plant. The News was discontinued in favor of the Journal. After a fire destroyed Cox’s printing equipment in February 1945, he printed his paper at the Cromwell offices of the Cromwell Advance. Cox won a national award and SSOO for his editorializing for a new fire department and through his efforts, the Syracuse Fire Department was practically rebuilt and modernized.
Cox published the SyracuseWawasee Journalin the early 1950 s—a basic eight-page, eightcolumn paper, setting the type on a Model A Intertype and running the paper four-up on a Whitlock drum press. In August 1953, the paper was sold to Kenneth C. Wells, who came from Milan, Mich. Wells and his family were assisted by Lawrence Yeater and Joe Bender of New Paris. The paper was then sold to Walter W. Pauli, a Seattle native. Working on the paper were Jane L. Bachman, Margaret Freeman and Lucy Garrett When Pauli- and his Japanese wife returned to the state of Washington, the control of the paper was left in the hands of Freeman and Garrett who ran it for Bill Spurgeon for about two years. Controlling interest in the Syracuse-Wawasee Journal was purchased on March 10, 1960, by Spurgeon, with Pauli retaining an interest in the paper and the Wawasee Publishing Co., Inc. A page one story in that 1960 issue stated “Spurgeon became part owner of the paper in 1955, after serving as the editor for several months in 1954. He was editor of the Journal for 11 months in 1955, leaving in December to join the news staff of The Muncie Star Spurgeon was a long-time summer resident and served as a summer correspondent in 1952 and 1953 under Cox. The The Journal was published for about six months by Don Nichols and Joe Zalley, new owners of the Nappanee Advance-News, who returned the paper to Cox. The two Nappanee men wired Cox that they were no longer printing the Syracuse , paper, at which time Cox sought out Arch and Della Baumgartner to take the paper over — to insure its continuity. Inasmuch as there was no equipment available with which to print another edition of the Journal, Syracuse faced the prospect of being without a local newspaper. In 1961, Cox sold his remaining interest, which consisted solely of the paper’s second class postal permit, to the Baumgartners, who published two papers, The Milford Mail and The SyracuseWawasee Journal for a brief period, then combined the two papers into one, dropping the name of the two towns — thus The Mail-Journal. It seemed the logical thing to do, inasmuch as by now both towns were in the new Lakeland School Corporation and had many common interests. The new publication had a broader base for advertising revenue and held the promise of delivering a more newsy paper to its running from 16 to 24 broadsheet pages per week. Kiddie Pull sponsored by WHS FFA 7 The Wawasee Future Farmers of America Chapter will be sponsoring the Syracuse Sesquicentennial Pedal Tractor Pull on Thursday, July 9, at Lakeside Park. This event is sanctioned by the National Association of Pedal Power Pullers. Registration will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the pull beginning at 6 p.m. There is no advance registration or entry fee. The pedal tractor pull is open to children ages five through 10. Competition will be in three age divisions: five and six-year olds; seven to eight year olds’ and nine and 10 year olds. Trophies will be presented to the top three pullers in each division. The decisions of the NAPPP official is final. The public to invited to attend this event that is growing in popularity on a national scale.