The PRESS OF ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY, Maine. LEWISTON JOURNAL. The first newspaper published within the limits of the present county of Androscoggin - setting aside an advertising sheet tem- porarily printed elsewhere - was the Lewiston Journal, the initial number of which was issued at Lewiston, Friday, May 21, 1847. It was published by Wm. H. Waldron, a printer from Dover, N. H., and Dr. Alonzo Garcelon, since well known as an eminent surgeon and physician -the style of the firm being William H. Waldron and Co. Dr. F. Lane was the editor, although both Dr. Garcelon and Mr. Waldron contributed more or less to the col- umns of the paper; Mr. Waldron had the entire charge of the business and mechanical department. As Dr. Lane severed his editorial connection with the Journal in the autumn of 1847, and Dr. Garcelon was prevented by his large professional and other business from giving much attention to the paper, the laboring oar came upon Mr. Waldron. The size of the Journal was 33 X 23 inches, and it was printed on an ordinary hand press in an office in a wooden building on Main street, which stood on the site of what is now Jones Block. As illustrating the changes of the past quarter century, it may be mentioned that the late Col. William Garcelon went to Port- land with a team and brought the press and printing materials for the Journal to Lewiston. Col. Garcelon pulled the impression for 204 THE NEWS PRESS OF MAINE. the first copy of the Journal printed, and had it in his possession at the time of his death. At the time of the establishment of the Journal in 1847, Lew- iston and Auburn were towns of but little more than two thousand population each. The Water Power Company had but just en- tered upon the development of the extensive water power at Lew- iston Falls. Androscoggin county did not then exist, the several towns now composing the county being attached to four different counties. Lewiston, Lisbon and Webster were in Lincoln county; East Livermore, Leeds, Greene and Wales in Kennebec county; Livermore and Turner in Oxford County; and Auburn (including Danville since annexed to Auburn), Minot, Poland and Durham were in Cumberland county. So diverse county relations inter- fered with the circulation and business development of the Jour- nal. In the winter of 1854 the new county of Androscoggin was established, and Lewiston and Auburn made a political, as it was previously, agrowing business center. The Journal pursued the even tenor of its way as a local and politically neutral newspaper, water scarcely more than seven hun- dred subscribers, until 1850, when Dr. Garcelon severed his con- nection with the paper,and Mr. Waldron became the sole proprie- tor, publisher and editor. During this period the paper devoted very little attention to political topics, and gave the briefest possi- ble summary of foreign and domestic news. To local news was Its columns were enriched by frequent contributions from the pen of Rev. James Drummond, then pas- tor of the Congregational church in Auburn (known at that time as Goff's Corner). In 185O-'51 Jones Block was erected, and the Journal office was removed to the third story of Garcelon's build- ing, constructed in connection with the block. In 1854-'55, during the exciting controversy over the Kansas Nebraska question, the Journal warmly espoused the free-soil cause, and earnestly supported the principles of the Republican party, then just orgainizing. During this period Prof. Win. M. Baker, Principal of Lewiston Falls Academy, and Nelson Dingley, Jr., a Senior in Dartmouth College (and subsequently, after his ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY. 205 graduation in 1855, a law student in the office of Morrill and Fes- senden, contributed largely to the political department of the paper. In 1855 the Journal office was removed to a new brick build- ing on Main street, erected by Mr. Waldron, and for the first time a cheap power press was procured on which to print its weekly edition of less than a thousand. At this time the advertising and job-printing patronage of the establishment were unusually good for a country newspaper. In September, 1856, Nelson Dingley, Jr., who had been but a month or two before admitted to the bar, after studying law for one year, purchased one-half of the Journal, and it was published for a year by Messrs. Waldron and Dingley -the former taking charge of the mechanical, and the latter of the editorial depart- ment. In September, 1857, Mr. Dingley purchased Mr. Waldron's half interest and became sole proprietor, publisher and editor. Under Mr. Dingley's management the Journal became more de- cidedly political, and was recognized as one of the leading Repub- lican papers of the State. The rapid increase of the circulation justified an enlargement of the paper in 1858, and again in 1860. DAILY EVENING JOURNAL. On the 20th of April, 1861, one week after Sumter was fired on, the first number of the Daily Evening Journal, a small sheet only 25 X 19 inches, was issued by Mr. Dingley, and gradually reached a large circulation for an interior town. In 1862 the Journal establishment was removed to the Journal Block, Lisbon street, constructed especially for the business of the paper. In 1863 Frank L. Dingley, the younger -brother of the proprietor (who had been an editorial assistant on the Journal since his graduation at Bowdoin College in 1861), became interested in the ownership of the paper, which was henceforth published by the two brothers under the style of Nelson Dingley, Jr., and Co. In 1864 the Daily Journal was enlarged, and in 1866 again en- larged to its present size - 36 X 23 inches. In 1866 the Weekly Journal was enlarged and changed from the folio to the quarto form ; and in 1868 again enlarged to its present size - 55 X 31.5 206 THE NEWS PRESS OF MAINE. inches. While the Journal is uncompromisingly Republican, yet it does not devote so much attention to politics as to prevent giving a very comprehensive summary of State and Domestic news, and considerable space to agricultural topics and general reading for the family circle., The Journal has a very large circulation for Maine; and notwithstanding a large number of papers have been published in Androscoggin County during the quarter century of its existence, yet it is the only paper that survives, with the excep- tion of the Gazette recently started. DEMOCRATIC ADVOCATE. In May, 1852, the Democratic Advocate was started by George W. Chase, Esq. It was printed for six months in the Journal office, and then removed to an independent office on the Auburn side. At the death of Mr. Chase in 1853, the Advocate passed into the hands of a company of leading Democrats, who employed Dr. P. Dyer (now of Franklin County) to conduct it. Dr. Dyer was succeeded in 1854 by John Abbott, who remained about a year, leaving the establishment in 1855 and starting a rival Democratic newspaper called THE UNION, which, however, lived only a few weeks. In 1857 the Advocate was purchased by C. B. Stetson, Esq., who conducted it until 1861, when it was merged in the LEWISTON HERALD. The same year that the Advocate was started (1852) Dr. Young commenced the publication of a small weekly called THE PANSOPHIST, which survived but one year. The same year Messrs. M. V. Stetson and J. B. Jones commenced the publication of an agricultural paper called the FARMER AND MECHANIC. This paper lived about eight months, and Eke the other experi- ment, involved the proprietors in a considerable loss, and dis- couraged new undertakings for several years. In 1853 Dr. Young, former proprietor of the Pansophist, again entered into the news- paper business, and for a year or two published a little sheet called the Touchstone. LEWISTON REPUBLICAN. In the summer of 1860 the Lewiston Republican was started ANDROSCOGGIN COUNTY. 207 by H. C. Johnson, and survived in this form nearly a year, al- though at a considerable loss to the proprietor. In 1861 the Re- publican and the Democratic Advocate were merged in a new neutral Weekly and Daily paper, called the LewiSToN HERALD, published by Messrs. Johnson and Hale. The Daily lived'six months, and the Weekly about eight months. In February, 1868, another attempt was made to start a Demo- cratic newspaper in Lewiston by publishing a paper called the CONSERVATIVE. Only one number was ever issued. During the Presidential campaign of 1868, Hon. E. K. Smart of Camden tem- porarily removed to Lewiston and published a Democratic paper called the JACKSONIAN, which was suspended before the campaign closed. THE EVANGELIST. In 1856 the Evangelist, a Congregational paper started at Portland some months previously, was removed to Lewiston and published from the Journal office until 1861-'62, when it was dis- continued. In 1857 a semi-religious paper, called the RISING SuN, was pub- lished for some months at Lisbon. LIVERMORE FALLS GAZETTE. About the same time John Morrill published this paper at Liv- ermore Falls for nearly a year. MECHANIC FALLS HERALD. In 1867 Mr. Moody started the Mechanic Falls Herald at Me- chanic Falls, and continued its publication nearly four years, when be purchased the Somerset Reporter and discontinued the Herald. LEWISTON GAZETTE. In the winter of 1872 William H. Waldron started a new weekly paper at Lewiston called the Lewiston Gazette, which ad- vocates the "Liberal Republican " and Democratic cause, and sup- ports Mr. Greeley for the Presidency. With the exception of occasional monthly advertising sheets, the foregoing covers the history of newspapers in the county of Androscoggin since the first paper - the Journal - was published in 1847. Of fifteen newspapers started previous to Jan., 1872, all are dead except the Lewiston Journal. 208 THE NEWS PRESS OF MAINE. Of the publishers and editors of newspapers published in An- droscoggin county during the quarter century closing with 1872, Messrs. F. Lane, M. V. Stetson, Dr. Young, Goo. W. Chase, and John Morrill are (lead. W. H. Waldron is publishing the Lewis- ton Gazette; J. B. Jones is on a farm in Auburn; H. C. Johnson is publisher of a paper in Vermont; E. K. Smart is in Camden; C. B. Stetson has business connections with J. R. Osgood and Co., Boston; Dr. P. Dyer is practicing his profession in Farmington; John Abbot has been lost sight of; Mr. Moody is publisher of the Somerset Reporter; Mr. Hale is foreman of the Lewiston Journal office; and the Messrs. Dingley remain the publishers and editors of the Journal -the senior having occupied that position sixteen, and the junior nine years. Mr. Nelson Dingley, Jr., a native of Durham (once Cumberland, now Androscoggin County), graduated at Dartmouth College in 1855 ; studied law for one year with Morrill and Fessenden at Lewiston Falls, Me., and was admitted to the bar in the summer of l856. InSeptember,1856, he became associated with William H. Waldron in the proprietorship and management of the Lewiston Journal, a weekly newspaper printed at Lewiston, for whose political department Mr. Dingley had written exten- sively for two years previously. In September, 1857, he became sole proprietor and editor of the Journal. In 1861 he commenced the publication of a Daily edition of the Journal and has since conducted both papers. In 1861 Mr. Dingley was elected to the State Legislature from Auburn, and took his seat in the winter of 1862. He was re-elected from Auburn in 1862, and was chosen Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives in 1863. Having removed to Lewiston in the spring of 1863, he was again returned to the Legislatture, at the election in September of that year, from Lewiston; and was re-elected Speaker at the assembling of the Legislature in the winter of 1864. He was re-elected to the Legislature of 1865, and was subsequently again elected to the House from Lewiston in 1867 and 1872. Mr. Frank L. Dingley, a native of Unity, Waldo County, graduated at Bowdoin College in 1861 ; spent two years as an assistant editor and reporter in the Lewiston Journal office Lewiston, and in 1863 became associated with his brother (Nelson Ding- ley, Jr.) in the proprietorship and management of that establishment ; a position which he has continued to occupy. *********************************************** Source for the above: "The Press of Maine" by Joseph Griffin 1872 Brunswick, Maine *********************************************** Courtesy of the New England Old Newspaper Index Project of Maine (R) and the Androscoggin Historical Society ] PO Box 152 Danville, Maine 04223 ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. 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