|
Early Thorp
Courier Printing Press, Thorp Clark Co., WI
The Thorp Courier
is one of the few existing businesses which witnessed the city's
incorporation as a village in 1893, and which will witness its
centennial celebrations as well. Although the Thorp Courier printed
it first edition on Nov. 23, 1883, the newspaper actually originated from
another newspaper, the Pioneer.
As the little town
began booming in the 1880's, one of the businesses to arrive in Thorp was
that of the Pioneer newspaper. It was first published by A. McIntyre
on May 10, 1883, and ran for 12 weeks. It was purchased in November
by the Shafer brothers and William Wagner of Colby, who added more and
better type and changed the name to the Courier.
In the first
issue, the three editors ran a brief sketch of the town, its businessmen
and the notice of the marriage of Martin Groher and Julia Frasier,
complete with the list of their guests and the gifts they received.
The three continued in partnership until December 1884, when Wagner bought
out the Shafer brothers. He immediately increased the size of the
newspaper to allow more room for advertisements and general news.
The newspaper came
out every Friday until Feb. 6, 1890, when , for some unknown reason,
Wagner began printing the paper every Thursday, as it now remains.
Wagner continued
running the business until he passed it along to his son, William S.
Wagner, in 1943. In 1965, John J. LaGasse, William Jr.'s son-in-law,
took over the operation with his partner, Robert Elkins. Ten years
later, John and Joyce LaGasse became the sole publishers. Finally,
in 1986, the business was once again passed down the family lines to their
son, Mark, who is currently editor and publisher.
Throughout the
years, the Courier's circulation has risen from 500 in 1883 to over 3,000
today. The newspaper has remained committed to the Thorp community
which helped foster its growth. (Thorp Courier, 3-Jun-1993)
|
