Wetzel Chronicle
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Eric Anderson |
| Editor | Ed Parsons |
| Founded | 1876 |
| Headquarters | 1100 Third Street, New Martinsville, WV |
| Circulation | 4,630 (as of 2016)[1] |
| Website | wetzelchronicle |
The Wetzel Chronicle is a newspaper serving New Martinsville, West Virginia, and surrounding Wetzel County.[2] Published weekly, it has a circulation of 4,630 and is owned by Ogden Newspapers.[3] Since April 2018, Eric Anderson has been the publisher.[4]
History
[edit]The paper is the merger two previous local newspapers,[5] the Democrat which dates back to 1877,[6] and the Republican,[7] which traces its roots back to the founding of the Messenger in 1876.[8][9]
The Wetzel Democrat was established as an eight-page Democratic weekly[10] by Dan Long, with W. S. Wiley and Robert McEldowney as editors.[11] Its early fame was based on McEldowney's editorials, which were widely syndicated, quoted, and discussed throughout the state.[12] Born in 1837, McEldowney had been raised in Wetzel County had received a public education in the local schools before attending Marrietta College in Ohio.[13] On the outbreak of the Civil War he had headed south to fight with the Confederacy's "Stonewall Regiment",[13] and fought as a captain at the Battle of Gettysburg.[12] An ardent Democrat, his editorials were known for both their wit (McEldowney once described the Republican party in the state as the only known instance of a "corpse attempting to commit suicide")[14] and its oppositional stance to Democratic party leadership. McEldowney died in 1900, at which point C. G. Westerman took over as editor and publisher.[12]
The Messenger was started 1876 by J. E. Hart.[11] After selling it and then repurchasing it, Hart changed the name to the Wetzel Republican,[11] a name under which it continued until its 1979 merger with the Democrat. The chief rival of the Democrat in its early years, it had a 1917 circulation of 1,300[15] to the Democrat's 1,800[15] in a county with a population of just over 20,000.[16]
Merged in 1979 under the title of the Wetzel Chronicle, the first issue of the Chronicle was published on July 5 of that year.[5] It has been owned by Ogden since at least 2001.[17]
On August 13, 2018, Perry Nardo, former publisher and current regional publisher of the Wetzel Chronicle, won the Adam R. Kelly Award from the West Virginia Press Association.[18] The Adam R. Kelly Award is the association's highest honor.
Related Resources
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ 2016 West Virginia Press Association Newspaper Directory (PDF). West Virginia Press Association. 2016.
- ^ "Newspapers Currently Received in the West Virginia Archives and History Library" (PDF). West Virginia Division of Culture and History. State of West Virginia. December 2016.
- ^ 2016 West Virginia Press Association Newspaper Directory (PDF). West Virginia Press Association. 2016.
- ^ "Anderson Named New Publisher". Wetzel Chronicle. 4 April 2018.
- ^ a b "About Wetzel chronicle". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
- ^ "About The democrat". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
- ^ "About Wetzel republican". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
- ^ "About The Messenger". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
- ^ "About The New Martinsville messenger". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
- ^ Rowell's American Newspaper Directory. 1887.
- ^ a b c McEldowney, John C. (1901). History of Wetzel County, West Virginia. p. 109.
- ^ a b c McEldowney, John C. (1901). History of Wetzel County, West Virginia. pp. n111.
- ^ a b Atkinson, George Wesley; Gibbens, Alvaro Franklin (1890). Prominent Men of West Virginia: Biographical Sketches, the Growth and Advancement of the State, a Compendium of Returns of Every Election, a Record of Every State Officer. W. L. Callin. p. 808.
Robert McEldowney.
- ^ "Untitled Item". The Weekly Register. 20 May 1885. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
- ^ a b West Virginia Blue Book. Tribune Printing Company. 1917.
- ^ Forstall, Richard. "WEST VIRGINIA: Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". Census.gov. US Bureau of the Census.
- ^ "Marietta Times sold to Ogden Newspapers". Marysville Journal-Tribune. 5 June 2001. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
- ^ "Four newspapers earn West Virginia Press Association Editorial Honors". West Virginia Press. West Virginia Press Association. 13 August 2018.
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