TELEGRAPH HERALD

This entry is being edited.

Telegraph Herald, 801 Central. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

TELEGRAPH HERALD. In 1919 the National Historical Society meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio officially declared that the DUBUQUE VISITOR was the first newspaper west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (1) The Telegraph Herald is the direct descendant of that paper. The "Visitor" was a weekly and the first copy consisted of four pages. On June 3, 1837 a new owner changed the name of the paper to the IOWA NEWS. On August 1, 1841 the paper was renamed MINER'S EXPRESS (THE). The paper was still four pages long in its original size of 16x21 inches. (2)

The Dubuque Tri-Weekly Herald was first available to the public on April 19, 1851. The four page paper was 14X21. (3) Faced with competition, The Miner's Express announced a daily newspaper on August 19, 1851. This challenge was answered by the Dubuque Tri-Weekly Herald with its own daily. The two newspapers survived with an editor who also served as a reporter and printer. Type was hand-set and the printing done on a hand-press. (4)

The two newspapers merged on October 26, 1854. The new paper, known as The Daily Express and Herald, had nine columns and remained four pages. This was the first morning daily in Iowa. (5) The word "Express" was dropped from the title on July 29, 1859 and the paper became The Dubuque Herald. (6) The proprietors were Dennis MAHONY, Joseph B. DORR and William H. Merritt. (7)

Patrick J. QUIGLEY purchased the paper, but then sold it to the widow of Dennis Mahony and left the city for St. Louis where he was involved in establishing the Daily Times. (8) He returned to Dubuque after a couple of years and joined the newly established "Dubuque Daily Telegraph" which was founded by on July 5, 1870. (9) He repurchased "The Dubuque Herald" from Mahony's widow on May 5, 1881. (10) When Quigley bought the paper, it had an assessed value of $3,500. Under his leadership, the paper in 1905 had a valuation of $20,000. (11) On October 27, 1891 the Dubuque Daily Telegraph was consolidated with The Dubuque Herald to become The Telegraph-Herald. (12)

Between 1881-1905, the Telegraph-Herald absorbed eight other newspapers. (13)

                Daily and Weekly Dispatch-----1884
                Daily and Weekly Democrat-----1885
                Daily and Weekly Independent--1887
                Industrial Leader-------------1888
                Industrial West---------------1889 

In 1904 the Telegraph-Herald installed an Ostrander-Seymour press which guaranteed 18,000 copies of a four, six, eight, ten, twelve or sixteen page paper per hour. The machine failed to meet these requirements. It was replaced in 1905 by a press manufactured by R. Hoe & Company of New York. This machine had the capacity of 24,000 twenty-four page papers printed in four colors an hour and represented an investment of $25,000. (14) This acquisition was but the latest example of the newspapers commitment to staying on the forefront of the technology at the time. By that year, the paper would also claim: (15)

          the first patent mailer
          the first paper folder
          the first and only double cylinder press
          the first car load of print paper
          the first flat stereotyping outfit
          the first curved stereotyping outfit
          the first pneumatic tube system in Iowa
          the first web perfecting press, capacity 8,000 per hour
          the first two car loads of roll paper in one consignment
          the first electric clock, motor and lighting
          the first carrier boys' uniforms
          the first color disc
          the first Cottrell book press
          the first and only car of book paper received in Dubuque
          the largest car of roll print

The Telegraph Herald was one of the city's major employers by 1905. The running expenses of the business in 1885 was $240 per week. In 1905 for the same length of time, the expenses had reached $2,700 with the greatest part paid to the 130 employees of the paper and the job printing department. (16)

Quick to adopt modern ideas and machinery, the paper was called one of Iowa's finest. With circulation growing, the paper moved from rented space at 7th and Main into spacious quarters at 5th and Main. Quigley maintained an active role in the management of the paper until his death on February 23, 1917. His successor was Fred W. WOODWARD.

Postcard carrying the picture of a newspaper carrier.

Carrier Calendar. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Woodward became president and general manager of the Telegraph-Herald in 1917. In 1927, he negotiated the merger of the paper with the Times Journal. The first issue of the paper printed in its present location at 8th and Bluff appeared on newsstands on July 14, 1930.

In 1965 the Woodward family purchased total control of the paper from the Quigley family. In 1966 newspaper publishing history was made when on February 29th the Telegraph Herald became the first to use the Goss Metro Offset double-wide press ever built.

Today the Telegraph Herald is a division of WOODWARD COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

Image courtesy: Mike Day. Kendall C. Day family collection

In the same article, the newspaper recounted its publishing firsts: (7)

            the first published list of farmers in Iowa
            the first and only original and special premiums
                 to subscribers--a county directory
            the first double-decked press to print 18,000
                 16-page papers per hour, folder in one part
            the first three-deck, four-color perfecting press,
                 printing 24,000 24-page papers an hour and 
                 the modern stereotyping plant going with it
            the first to issue a state directory--the largest
                 book ever published west of the [[MISSISSIPPI
                 RIVER]] and the only directory ever published
                 containing a resume of the state, counties,
                 cities and towns and names of businesses and
                 professional men and farmers.

---

Source:

1. "Telegraph-Herald First Paper West of Mississippi, Decision of National Historical Society, Telegraph-Herald, November 30, 1919, p. 1

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. "The Greater Telegraph-Herald: The Story of Its Founding and Growth," Telegraph-Herald, May 18, 1904

6. "Telegraph-Herald First..."

7. "The Greater Telegraph-Herald..."

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10.

11. "Rise of the Telegraph Herald," Telegraph-Herald, May 18, 1904

12. "Telegraph-Herald First..."

13. "The Telegraph-Herald's Records of Achievement," Telegraph-Herald, March 19, 1905, p. 17

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.