Barton County Democrat (Great Bend, Kan.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,465 issues from 1886 to 1915, published in Great Bend, Kansas, digitised for Chronicling America.
The Barton County Democrat was founded in 1885 as a weekly Democratic newspaper in Great Bend, Kansas. During its run, the Democrat was known as the “Official County paper of Barton County,” the “Official Paper for Great Bend,” and the “Official County Paper.” Content included a large amount of legal notices, marriage announcements, obituaries, local advertisements, and news from the nearby Barton County towns of Claflin, Hoisington, Olmitz, Ellinwood, Pawnee Rock, and the surrounding townships. Circulation peaked in 1907 at 1,950 with city and county population at 3,365 and 15,147, respectively.
The paper was founded by Dewey Langford who served as both editor and proprietor. Will E. Stoke joined the organ as co-editor and proprietor in March 1887, and Langford left soon after. Stoke managed the Democrat alone until January 1903 when he was joined by William P. Feder, a probate judge and the previous publisher of the Ellinwood Advocate, also of Barton County. Stoke retired in November 1906 after nearly 20 years at the Democrat, and Feder served as publisher until January 1913 when John K. McMullen took over ownership. In his valediction statement, Feder lamented: “We started into this chapter with some money and very little newspaper experience. We make the last period with no money, several thousand dollars in debts hanging over us, and heaps of experience.” Feder went on to say: “We trust that time will deal more kindly with John in his management of the Democrat than…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Great Bend, Kansas, United States
- Language
- English
- Collection
- Chronicling America
- Licence or status
- None stated by the archive
- Rights
- The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.
- Credit
- Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Who can read it
- Teens profiles and older (placed by Invisible Network from what the archive says; archives give no ratings)
- Archive
- Library of Congress