Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
This is a fairly significant year for the Times-Union.
We'll be celebrating 150 years of newspapering in Warsaw.
Today's date - Jan. 10 - holds significance because it is the day in 1856 that saw the inaugural edition of the Northern Indianian weekly newspaper.
Its circulation was 250.
The newspaper was founded by Gen. Reuben Williams and George Fairbrother.
It was printed in a frame building at 116 N. Buffalo St., which is now the home of Dig's Diner, of all things (no offense, Dig, I love those bacon cheeseburgers).
By the early 1860s, publication was moved to the corner of White's block on the southeast corner of Center and Buffalo streets. In 1866, the offices were moved down the street to the new Phoenix block, where the presses were later operated by steam.
The newspaper later moved into a building at the north end of the Empire block before coming to rest at the corner of Indiana and Market streets, where it remains today.
The current printing plant was built at the Times Building in 1923.
In 1881, the Northern Indianian began publishing the Warsaw Daily Times; both papers were published until 1919, when the two newspapers merged.
In 1938, the Daily Times purchased the Union, a daily newspaper founded in 1854 by Henry C. Rippey. Both editions were published until 1942, when World War II created a labor shortage and the two newspapers were consolidated into one - the Times-Union.
The Times-Union is now in its fifth consecutive generation of ownership by the Williams family: first, Gen. Reuben Williams; second, Logan and Melvin Williams; third, Raymond B. and Charles Reuben Williams; fourth, Michael R. Williams and Lane Williams Hartle; and fifth, Chandler M. Williams, Cooper L. Williams, Ashley Williams Rettig, Christopher R. Williams and Craig Norrell.
Our 150 years of continuous operations ranks us No. 1 in the oldest county business category, followed by Lake City Bank (1872), DePuy (1895), Little Crow Foods (1903), Dalton Corp. (1910), Myer Levin & Sons (1914) and Zimmer (1927).
Later this year, we plan to do a special commemorative section to celebrate our 150th year.
The special section will be an overview of 150 years of news in Kosciusko County.
As part of the celebration, our photo editor, Gary Nieter, created a special Times-Union nameplate, which we will use throughout the year, beginning today.
I have been here a mere 16 of those 150 years, so this must be a biased point of view, but I think being in business that long is pretty incredible.
And it's even more incredible when one considers the business has remained in the same family - especially in an industry where "family-owned" has largely been supplanted by words like "corporate" and "chain."
I have worked in both atmospheres, but I must say I truly enjoy working for a family-owned newspaper.
My hope is that you enjoy reading it, too.
