The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-03-21
HERALD HISTORY
IS INTERESTING.
Continued from Page %

palgn. Advertisers in the city held
were not tardy in recognizing the
merits of the daily press and the de-
mand for the permanent establish.
ment of the enterprise became fixed
and the child grew from its natal day.
1t has been a credit to the parent that
bore it and has gone forward from
that day gaining in strength and in
fluence until it is the healthful and
ambitious youth of today.
1t had been the custom of the Her
aid for a number of years prior to
this date to issue a daily during the
county fair. 1t was at the close of
the fair of 1887 that the Evening Her
aid made it's appearance. 1t was a
six column folio in its first months Of
existence and so remained for a num-
Der of years until the natural growth
of business and patronage and the
cultivation of the daily news field Of
the city and vicinity increased its
size. Today we have the Daily Her
aid with eight pages OF seven col
umns, filled with the local happenings
of the world as told by the associated
press news-gatherers of the globe.
And there was another condition that
operated toward the Inauguration Of
the daily in the city. The county and
the city had been growing very rapid.
ly and had been increasing in import
ance as a news center. Happenings
were in greater number and necessar-
lily of greater frequency and even the
forty columns of the weekly could rot
give all the space required by current
To gt1NnlNN fhnIpn1an tho
Herald instituted in the year 1886 a
Saturday Herald. This annex took
care of the oveTplus of news and ac-
commodated the needs Of the adver-
tiser. The Daily Herald was con-
ceived through light shed by the Sat
urday and the Fair Heralds. The Sat
urday Herald was discontinued with
the appearance of the Daily Herald.
1t was not to be discarded altogether
however, for in the year 1896 more
space was required in handling the
news and the business OF the paper
than was furnished by the columns Ct
the Daily and Weekly sheets and the
Saturday Herald was revived.
March IA, 1896, the Saturday Week
ly Herald made its appearance. This
sister of the regular Weekly Herald
is walking hand in hand with the
elder publication and she we'll bears
her share of the burdens. Thus all
readers of the Herald family have the
news in their home in the columns of
the semi-weekly GRANDDAUGHTER
mark of the progress of the paper.
August l, 1889, Albert and Pauline
Swain, his wife, became the sole
owners of the Herald, purchasing the
interests of Chas. and William Leigh
ton. These gentlemen had been with
the paper for thirty years and their
individuality had been merged with
the publication until it seemed that
they were inseparable. Progress,
however, is marked by changes and
the history Of the Herald has furnish
ed many of them.
Change OF Ownership.
December 8, 1896. Another genera.
ton Of Herald employees are called to
the management Of the firm and the
paper. On that date Mr.. and Mrs
Swain stepped down and out and
transferred their interests to Charles
v. and Phil HOFFMAN,. These young
men had been nursed in the cradle of
the paper. From it they had been
taught their alphabet. Early in life
they were connected with it's various
departments. They "ate ink and slept
on print" within the walls of its home
and the change from the Swalms to
the Hoffmanns was but a step in the
evolution of the journal, ever advanc.
ing and ever lettering its condition.
The new firm took up the reins and
the old steed seemed to feel the
change and sprang forward with new
life and vigor. The demand for the
paper increased in all its editions.
The subscription lists of both weekly
and daily grew at surprising rate.
Then came the Spanish-American ex-
element and every one had to have
the news. The Herald came to the
front and occupied the field as it had
never done before. But the paper
was passing into a new era. The old
press was too slow to get out the edi,
lions necessary to supply the growing
demand. News was wanted and de,
manded while it was news. The
events of the day came by wire and
the paper gave them to the public a
few minutes. comparatively, after