The Corpus Christi Caller (Corpus Christi, Tex.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,016 issues from 1918 to 1921, published in Corpus Christi, Texas, digitised for Chronicling America.
Eli Merriman, Ed Williams, and William P. Caruthers, with the help of wealthy ranchers Richard King and Mifflin Kennedy, consolidated the Corpus Christi Free Press and Semi-Weekly Ledger creating the Caller Publishing Company and publishing the first Corpus Christi Caller on January 20, 1883. A morning publication, the Caller ran daily between 1891 and 1896, and then weekly after 1905. In 1911, it became a daily paper again, changing its name to the Corpus Christi Caller and Daily Herald. Once again, in 1918, it became known as the Corpus Christi Caller. Yearly subscription rates rose from two dollars in 1883 to six dollars in 1919. Within a year of its creation, the Caller claimed the “largest circulation of any weekly newspaper published in Southwest Texas,” with 1,132 subscribers. Although the paper was not associated with any political party, city politics were a major focus and it routinely supported Democratic candidates.
The Caller’s column, “Field and Pasture,” promoted farming and ranching and publicized civic improvements. From the outset, editors called for a railway between Corpus Christi and San Antonio, completed in 1886. Roy Miller, editor from 1907 to 1910, reinforced the paper’s civic and coastal boosterism; then as mayor in 1913, he wrote articles promoting a deepwater port (finished in 1926).
The devastating hurricane of September 19, 1919, caused over 400 deaths and destroyed much of Corpus Christi’s business district. With its offices damaged, the…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Corpus Christi, Texas, 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