The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,500 issues from 1890 to 1895, published in Roanoke, Virginia, digitised for Chronicling America.
Started as “an independent Democratic paper devoted to the material and political interests of Roanoke and Southwest Virginia,” the Roanoke Daily Times and its successors have kept watch on the capital of the Blue Ridge for more than 120 years. Printed daily, except Monday, the paper dates back to a time when the Roanoke was known as Big Lick because of the nearby salt marshes that attracted wild animals. The town shifted its location to accommodate the construction of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and in 1882, Big Lick changed its name to Roanoke, a name derived from the Native American word “Rawrenock” for shell beads used in trade. Roanoke quickly became a boomtown as it grew faster than any city in the South and indeed was the fourth fastest growing city in the nation. Roanoke grew so rapidly, it was said to be magic, thus earning its nickname: “Magic City.”
Founded by M. H. Claytor in 1886, the Roanoke Daily Times was the area’s first daily paper serving the communities of Roanoke, Salem, and Vinton. In his first editorial, Claytor proclaimed, “the Roanoke Daily Times is purely a business enterprise. It will be conducted for the purpose of making a support for its publishers.” From the start, however, the paper had financial problems. Claytor sold the Times a few years later to The Roanoke Publishing Company, under the direction of Herbert Janvrin Browne. The new guard ushered a wide reorganization poised to turn a little community news sheet into a real…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Roanoke, Virginia, 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