The Mena Weekly Star (Mena, Ark.)
Historic newspapers carry the language, views and graphic reporting of their time, including racist content. They are shown to teen and adult profiles.
680 issues from 1906 to 1922, published in Mena, Arkansas, digitised for Chronicling America.
The city of Mena lies in Polk County, Arkansas in the southwestern part of the state along the Oklahoma border. Mena is a popular tourist destination in the Ouachita National Forest for the Talimena Scenic Drive and Queen Wilhelmina State Park. It is part of the socio-economic region of Ark-La-Tex (which includes sections of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas). Mena was founded in 1896 as a stop along the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad (later the Kansas City Southern Railway) developed by Arthur Stillwell. In 1898 the Polk County seat was moved from Dallas to Mena. Mena was advertised as a health spa city, though the main industries were timber, agriculture, and mineral extraction.
In 1896 Andrew Warner St. John established The Mena Weekly Star as one of the first newspapers in Mena. The paper’s first publishing office was a small 16 x 24 foot building, which was a generous size for a city just-established in which many people were still living in tents. The office had a Fairhaven press, an 8 x 12 foot jobber, and a good supply of type. The Star was published every Wednesday by A. W. St. John & Sons. Before moving to Mena, Andrew St. John worked at the Carthage Evening Press (1891-1966) in Carthage, Missouri for about 16 years. At the Star, St. John worked with his younger son Roy Robert St. John. The Mena Weekly Star continued under that name until 1898, at which time it changed to The Mena Star. The Mena Star was published every Wednesday, then in 1899 it changed to…
- Genres
- News
- Published in
- Mena, Arkansas, 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