The Leon Reporter (Leon, Iowa)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
1,067 issues from 1899 to 1920, published in Leon, Iowa, digitised for Chronicling America.
The city of Leon, Iowa, is the seat of Decatur County, which shares its southern border with Missouri. Leon was first surveyed in the early 1850s and was incorporated as a city in 1858. The town’s first newspaper, the Leon Pioneer, began in 1855 and changed ownership multiple times before ceasing publication in 1873. This opened the door for the Leon Reporter to become the area’s leading source of local news.
The Leon Reporter began weekly publication in 1875. A few years later it merged with Orange M. Howard and William C. Jackson’s paper the Democrat to become the Democrat-Reporter. The paper continued to expand, absorbing the Decatur County Press on October 26, 1881. John C. Stockton, the editor and publisher of the Decatur County Press, took over editorial duties for the newly consolidated publication, while Justinian A. Ray served as the business manager. In August 1884, Lon H. Boydston took over as editor and remained until he sold his interest in the Democrat-Reporter to John D. and Oliver E. Hull on January 1, 1887. After the sale, the Hulls changed to paper’s name back to the Leon Reporter. On October 1, 1887, Edgar W. Curry purchased John Hull’s interest in the paper. Boydston returned to the Reporter in May 1889, purchasing Curry’s interest; but on December 1, 1890, Oliver Hull purchased Boydston’s share, taking full control of the paper.
In its early years, the Leon Reporter strongly supported Democratic political candidates and featured coverage of political…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Leon, Iowa, 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