TheSpectator ™ -- Our newspaper history
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Latest revision: November 07, 2002
Don M. Nixon II -- Indiana -- Indianapolis, 1964...to present.
Don M. Nixon -- Indiana -- Inducted in 1984 into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame
The seed for Nixon Newspapers, Inc. was planted in 1904, when a young, no-nonsense newsman named Don Morrison Nixon and John C. Rutherford founded the Terre Haute Saturday Spectator.
Born in 1880, Nixon was only 24, but by then had worked for the Terre Haute Morning Express after being graduated from Wiley High School. At 21, he went to New York, where he became a ship news reporter, gaining experience reporting and writing.
Equipped with a keen mind, a competitive spirit, a determination that couldn't be broken and many long days, Nixon converted the weekly Saturday Spectator into a small group of fledgling newspapers -- but his noted career ended prematurely in a Michigan City automobile accident.
His death in 1934, at 54, left his newspapers in the hands of his widow, the former Eugenia Hubbard, a noted concert pianist from Clay City, Indiana. As principal owner of seven newspapers in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, she consolidated them into Nixon Newspapers, Inc.
Nixon can best be described in one word: crusader. Throughout his 40-year journalism career, Don Nixon battled political corruption and special interests detrimental to the public good. Two journalistic efforts, steeped in press courage and freedom, illustrate Nixon's crusading spirit.
The first occurred in 1913, when Nixon charged Terre Haute Mayor Don Roberts used fraud to get elected. In his investigation, Nixon revealed names of dead persons had been removed from tombstones and given to "floaters" to vote for Roberts and his associates.
Week after week, Nixon pounded away at Roberts, exposing new facts and questioning Roberts' dealings with the town's traction company. Aroused, the public forced naming a special prosecutor to sift evidence and uncover the whole truth.
The traction company retaliated by hiring "Bat" Masterson of frontier fame. Masterson was told to slug Nixon, and the noted gunfighter went to Nixon's home -- only to find the newspaper publisher not at home. Later, Masterson, in a sworn confession printed by the Spectator, said he was hired to keep Nixon "quiet."
insert link to Bart mastersoon graphic Jun 14 2002
Nixon's efforts earned him a reputation as a militant publisher -- and eventually resulted in indictments of several city hall politicians, including Roberts in 1914. They were convicted and sentenced to the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas.
In 1932, Nixon gained nationwide attention again -- this time in Wabash. He was cited for contempt of court for criticizing the appointment of an ill-qualified village garage mechanic as receiver for a Wabash bank. (look this up to provide name of bank
Nixon had come to Wabash 10 years earlier for the first time. He found the Plain Dealer in receivership because of financial troubles besetting the Service Motor Truck company, which owned the newspaper's controlling interest. In the spring of 1923, Nixon acquired the Plain Dealer and a short time later the Times-Star. He immediately began revamping their content and appearance, and in 1926 he merged the two papers. In 1926 The Citizen was established in Wabash, but existed less than 18 months. Nixon bought the paper and sold its press to interests in Elizabethton, Tennessee.
When the Elizabethton Star owners couldn't make payments on the press, Nixon acquired the paper in late 1927. The Star remained in the Nixon family after Nixon's death in 1934. One of his two daughters, Helen Margaret, acquired possession in the settlement of his estate. She and her husband operated the paper for awhile and then sold it in .look this up to provide date
The Peru Daily Tribune joined the Nixon family enterprise in 1928. The Tribune was established when striking printers claimed they had been locked out by other Peru area newspapers. Incorporators, holding $10-a-share stock, were William Tripeer, Frank S. Days, Royce Hall, William C. Orpurt and Clarence W. Jones. The newspaper was eventually acquired by Paul Poynter, who owned papers in Kokomo, Sullivan and St. Petersburg, Florida. Nixon bought Poynter's interest. More details of the Peru newspaper follows below.
look this up to details
Two years later, Nixon added the Middlesboro (Ky.) Daily News to his group. During his travels to Elizabethton, he would stop in the Cumberland Gap at Middlesboro and read the Daily News, which began in 1911 as a weekly called the Thousandsticks. The newspaper derived its name from a stream in Letcher County, in which congregated thousands of sticks washed down from the mountains. A group of businessmen bought the paper in 1920 and formed the Citizens News Co. By then, the Thousandsticks had become the Pinnacle Daily News. Then the business group changed the name to the Middlesboro Daily News.
The majority of stock was acquired in 1922 by F. D. Hart, Jr., an engineer. In 1923, Robert L. Kincaid became manager, and in 1926 he purchased Hart's stock. Nixon bought the majority of Citizens News Co. stock in 1930, and it remained in the Nixon family until the fall of 1944, when local businessmen acquired the Nixon interest.
A short time later, Nixon acquired the Southwest Times of Pulaski, Virginia.look this up to find out what short time was
In 1932, Nixon acquired his seventh newspaper, buying the floundering Michigan City Dispatch in northwestern Indiana. The seller was Pleas Greenlee, who was Governor Paul McNutt's patronage secretary, and Wray Fleming, a founder of the Hoosier State Press Association.
The Dispatch was the second newspaper in town, and trailing the News, which had 6,000 circulation compared to 1,200.
While Nixon was acquiring the Dispatch in 1932, he was embroiled in his contempt case over the receivership appointment in Wabash. Legal wrangling went on for weeks before a special judge found him guilty, fined him $100 and meted out a10-day jail term. The decision was appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court -- and the case drew attention from several larger papers, including the Chicago Tribune. While Nixon's attorneys scrapped in court, Nixon scrapped with the opposition, building the Dispatch into respectability by using methods that had proven successful elsewhere. The news product improved. Advertising revenue inched up. Circulation rose.
Two years later -- tragedy.
On his way to mail a letter from the Michigan Central Railroad Depot, Nixon was fatally injured when his car and a truck collided at the intersection of Michigan Boulevard and Wabash Street. The accident occurred on a Monday, resulting in head injuries that eventually took his life before the week was ended.
His death came before the Indiana Supreme Court would vindicate him in the 1932 contempt case. The conviction reversal made nationwide news again. Extensive editorial comment praised Nixon for his vigilance against encroachment on a free press.
Death, too, prevented Nixon from seeing victory in Michigan City. His underdog Dispatch, staffed by dedicated and respected journalists as Al Spiers, surpassed the rival News. The two papers became the Michigan City News-Dispatch in 1938 after the Robb and Misener families sold their News to the Nixon family.
The Michigan City acquisition was the last one under Don Nixon's direction. In fact, the Nixon family, finding a shortage of strong managers to operate the Spectator, the Middlesboro Daily News, the Elizabethton Star and the Southwest Times of Pulaski, began selling those properties.
The Hammond (La.) Daily Star was purchased in 1962. The newspaper had been established in 1959 as Louisiana's first full-sized offset daily newspaper. In December 1968, the Auburn (Ind.) Star was purchased and sold in December 1971. In 1969 the Frankfort, (Ind.) Morning Times was purchased. The Times had been in the Max Fowler family since its inception as a weekly in 1885.
One daily and one weekly newspaper were added in July 1973. The Brazil (Ind.) Times was acquired July 1 from Margretta Raper Cassel and George M. James. James had joined the Times as editor in 1910 after completing the first journalism course at Indiana University and working for the Indianapolis Star. The Pulaski County (Ind.) Journal was acquired July 27 from Wiley W. Spurgeon, Jr. of Muncie, who had bought the paper in 1971. look this up to provide name of former owner
The Swayzee (Ind.) Press was purchased later in 1973, and the Culver (Ind.) Citizen and the North Judson (Ind.) News were acquired in October 1974. look this up to provide name of former owners
In April 1979, Nixon Newspapers acquired a group of newspapers from Robert Hemphill -- the Attica (Ind.) Ledger-Tribune and Watseka (Ill.) Times-Republic, both dailies; the Newton County (Ind.) Enterprise and Covington (Ind.) Friend, weeklies, and the Warren County (Ind.) Messenger, a free distribution shopper published weekly. The Messenger and The Friend were discontinued, replaced by Shopping Guides, weekly publications which provided total market distribution for advertisers.
In April 1979, Nixon Newspapers also purchased Mills Publications, publishers of the Hoopeston (Ill.) Chronicle-Herald, from Thomas E. Mills.
more about the Peru Daily Tribune...
More than 75 years ago, the first edition of the Peru Daily Tribune hit the streets, the product of a group of striking printers from other newspapers in the city. The first edition came out on April 16, 1921, from a small office on South Broadway. A subscription cost 12 cents per week.
The modest beginning came when the local printers claimed they were locked out by the city's two daily newspapers then - the Peru Journal and the Peru Chronicle. It was not easy for the Peru Daily Tribune to get started, what with two other daily papers and several other publications in Peru and Miami County already established. At the time of the Tribune's first edition, there were at least nine other newspapers in the county. In addition to the Tribune, Journal and Chronicle dailies, the Miami County Sentinel and the Peru Republican published on a semi-weekly basis.
Surrounding county communities also had papers then. The Amboy Independent, the Converse Journal, the Denver Tribune, the Xenia Journal and the Bunker Hill Press were in existence. The Denver Tribune in 1962 was the last of these papers to cease publication. After a year at the South Broadway address, the Tribune moved to its current location at 24-26 W. Third St. in a building erected by Schuyler Miller and Ford Wallick for the Miller-Wallick stationery firm. That business is now American Stationery Co. and still operates in Peru and Miami County. Early in 1928, the printers sold their interest in the Tribune to Paul Poynter, who owned papers in Kokomo and Sullivan and St. Petersburg, Fla. Later that year, Don Nixon purchased Poynter's interest in the Tribune. That same year, W.H. Hendricks purchased the remaining Peru dailies, the evening Journal and the Chronicle. In November 1928, Hendricks sold out to Nixon, making Peru a one-daily newspaper town.
more about the Michigan City News-Dispatch...
As with any community, the newspapers played a major role in shaping the city. During the 1930s, Michigan City News celebrated its 100th anniversary with a special section on the history of Michigan City.
On Aug. 6, 1935, John L. Bach, editor of Michigan City News, received a letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The letter read, "I have just been advised that this year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the Michigan City News and that a special edition will be published on September nineteenth (sic) in commemoration of this event.
"The News, established shortly after the founding of Michigan City, has played a vital part in the social and economic life of that community. I am happy to send congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of this anniversary."
The president's letter was published in the newspaper's special section dated with just the month of September 1935. In that edition, the newspaper also included a letter to the readers. It read, "If the 100 pages of every copy of The News 100th Anniversary Edition were laid end to end, a two-foot wide ribbon of white would stretch all the way from Michigan City to the city limits of Detroit, 200 miles away.
"To say it another way, the 10 tons of newsprint required for tonight's edition, make 2,025,000 square feet of paper, or 4,050,000 square inches of reading matter to peruse.
"The News Anniversary Edition is the largest newspaper ever published in northern Indiana.
"But it is not quantity alone in this 100th anniversary paper. You will find valuable historical data, up-to-the-minute news of the city and nation.
"To deliver these huge papers, each of which weighs one pound and six ounces, it took a carrier force of 225. The regular force of 85 city and suburban carriers was augmented to insure regular afternoon delivery."
During 1932, Don M. Nixon purchased The Evening Dispatch, the competing newspaper of Michigan City News, from Pleas Greenlee and Wray Fleming. Nixon was killed October 1934.
On June 6, 1938, the Michigan City News and the Evening Dispatch consolidated. The headline announcing the merger said, "Hello! News-Dispatch In First Appearance In City." The article read, "The News-Dispatch, which replaces the Michigan City News and the Evening Dispatch, is today published for the first time.
"All business of the News-Dispatch is now carried on in the building occupied formerly by The News, and over the weekend all editorial, business, circulation, advertising and mechanical forces took up offices in the one building.
"Both telephones numbers have been kept to facilitate workings of the newspaper. The telephone exchange numbers will be 81, 82 and 674.
"Present prepaid News and Dispatch subscribers will continue to receive the newspaper, executives announced, and in case of duplications, where both newspapers were taken on prepaid subscriptions, the time of the subscription will be extended by the circulation department.
"The News-Dispatch will continue to keep its staff of rural correspondents, and will present in its pages the best in features, columns and comics taken from both newspapers.
more about the Wabash Plain Dealer
The first Plain Dealer was published by W.C. McGonigal on Aug. 8, 1859, in a third story room above the Johnson and Co. store on Canal Street. It was the fourth newspaper in Wabash since the first printing press arrived by canal boat in 1846. McGonigal hid local news inside the paper and put stories from other papers and poetry on the front page. A Democrat at first, he switched 11 months later and supported Lincoln.
McGonigal was an itinerant printer from the East who first settled in DeKalb County and started the DeKalb Democrat. He named his weekly paper in Wabash the Plain Dealer because of his love for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Its competitor was the Weekly Intelligencer.
At the end of one month the Plain Dealer had 600 subscribers using county postmasters as agents.
McGonigal sold the Plain Dealer twice. The first time seven months after buying it to Orris Blake. He took it back two months later. He sold it again when he left for the Civil War a year after founding the Plain Dealer.
S.M. Hibben, the new owner, combined the Plain Dealer with the Gazette and Intelligencer, then sold it to Meredith Kidd. The Wabash Free Trader came along in 1871 to provide competition, but died a political death.
In 1884, the Wabash Weekly Times came into being. The Plain Dealer went daily in 1890 and the Times followed suit. There were three dailies and five weeklies at the time.
The Star became a weekly in 1896 and combined with the Times as the Wabash Times-Star.
The Plain Dealer went to linotype in 1902 and had a three-man newsroom staff. Charlie Haas was editor when the Plain Dealer went daily. Comic strips were introduced in 1919.
In the 1920s, the Plain Dealer became the property of Don Nixon. He bought the Plain Dealer and Times-Star in 1923 and merged the two in 1926. The Times-Star was published in the morning for rural circulation and the Plain Dealer in the afternoon.
Arthur Kautz: Indiana -- Kokomo Tribune
Joseph H. Nixon: Indiana -- Inducted in 1984 into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame
The late Joseph Henry Nixon of Wabash exemplified the best kind of Indiana newspaperman. He was involved and committed, a seeker of excellence who demanded much from his associates and more from himself.
A native of Terre Haute, he spent most of his life at Wabash, where he died in December, 1988, at the age of 75.
Nixon started his distinguished newspaper career as classified advertising manager of the Michigan City Dispatch in 1934 when the paper was owned by his father, Don Nixon. He later held positions with other Nixon family newspapers - The Elizabethton, Tennessee, Star; the Peru, Indiana, Daily Tribune; the Wabash, Indiana, Plain Dealer; the Frankfort, Indiana, Times; and the Brazil, Indiana, Times. He became chairman of Nixon Enterprises, Inc., in 1980 and later was named chairman emeritus.
He was active in encouraging industrial development in Indiana and was a key figure in the location of the Bunker Hill Naval Air Station near Peru. The base now is known as Grissom Air Force Base.
He helped organize the Wabash Valley Association and was instrumental in the construction of the Mississinewa, Salamonie and Huntington reservoirs for flood control. Nixon also fought pari-mutual gambling after it was authorized by the Indiana General Assembly. He volunteered his name as a plaintiff for a successful lawsuit in which the Indiana Supreme Court ruled pari-mutual gambling violated the Indiana constitution's ban on gambling. That ban since has been removed by legislative action and voter referendum.
During his busy business career, Nixon also found time to be active in many professional and civic organizations. He served the state as chairman of the Indiana Flood Control and Water Resources Commission and as a member of the advisory council of the Bureau of Water and Minerals. He was a trustee of Manchester College. He was recipient of the Sagamore of the Wabash and Indiana Council of Churches Christian Service Citation.
Nixon also has been honored by the comments of fellow newspapermen and others. Former Governor Matthew E. Welsh said in lending support for the nomination of Nixon into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame: "Joe and I became acquainted as students at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1930s and we have kept in contact ever since as old and valued friends. I knew Joe to be a journalist deeply committed to a better Indiana as well as a very successful publisher of a number of Indiana papers."
Richard W. Cardwell, general counsel of the Hoosier State Press Association and a member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, said last December before Nixon's death: "In my opinion, few individuals have performed more distinguished service to their communities, state and nation through journalism than Joe Nixon. "I consider Joe Nixon to be a Renaissance man. The characteristics that make him unique have remained constant over all the years - an alert, inquiring mind, responsiveness to ideas and an eagerness to share them with others, sensitivity to the problems and plight of others and a broad-ranging variety of interests which led him into the arts, into environmental concerns, into religion, education and public affairs."
In an editorial on the passing of Nixon, The Indianapolis Star said: "Joseph H. Nixon made Indiana more prosperous, safer, and a more caring place to live."
Associate publishers
Joan E. Nixon:
New York -- New York City NY 10014
Eugenia HN Fulkerson:
Indiana -- Warsaw IN 46580
Joseph H. Nixon Jr.
California -- Santa Cruz CA 95060
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Creative Thinking, Incorporated -- Created and incorporated by Don M. Nixon II in 1972
I began my newspaper career answering the telephone at the Peru Indiana Daily Tribune on winter Friday nights providing scores for basketball games. I graduated to newspaper carrier in Wabash delivering the Plain Dealer to one hundred customers in my neighborhood. When I got out of school and began working full time for Nixon Newspapers in Wabash, I believed ultimate success would be writing for the New York Times, reaching and preaching to millions of readers, making a significant difference in their lives. But I later realized, although there was maybe a lot of influence from having huge numbers of readers, I may not have been as likely to have as much impact on any single person as I could when my reader knew who I was and could call me or see me at lunch. Thousands of readers could think about what they read and maybe or maybe not act on my subject, but no one would personally argue with me or point out something I hadn't thought of which might have influenced my conclusions.
After several years, I determined I could actually create more impact on people in Wabash who I knew and knew me. And if I did a really good job, what I did could make a difference. I built our newspaper's quality and credibility training and creating incentive to do well. Our photographer, Harold Chatlosh, has his picture taken by the official White House photographer while he was on assignment taking a photo of Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office. Those assignments proved to me if competent, you can do anything anyone else does, often as well or better. Downtown, I converted an abandoned, dilapidated building into a racquetball court which provided a new opportunity for my neighbors.
I moved to Indianapolis twenty years ago. It's much bigger than Wabash. I keep reading about our local problems and see some of them daily. I've been thinking about how to improve my town and go back to the basics. America's smallest school--my family. America's smallest community--my block. As we have moved from our front porch to our living room in front of the television, we have lost our sense of neighbors and community. But now we can talk on the internet even as we are in front of the tv. And that talk can help bring us together again.
I want to find people who value family and community. Family needs two adult people, one male and one female, to pay attention to their kids--spend one on one time with each child and help him/her sort through growing pains which make life valuable and important to each of them and their neighbors. If I can find good writers to record how those kids do good things in their neighborhoods, schools and churches those stories will help us get back to the basics and we will rebuild our community foundation for the next generation instead of on sand, but rock. Do you know someone who will help me?
Description of most noteworthy personal achievements. (add link and put history with league and rules on other page)
Company Name Incorporated
Official Title of Position, Date HeldDescription of most noteworthy personal achievements.look this up to provide names, dates
Thanks for visiting our site. Come back often... Don M. Nixon II, Editor & Publisher
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Latest revision: November 07, 2002