01/02/2025
Happy New Year from The Carlisle Citizen! This year is extra special, as it marks our 100th year in business!!! How many businesses have been or will ever be lucky enough to say that?
The Carlisle Citizen has only had three owners – the Thorpes, the Mesenbrinks, and the Kleins – since it began in 1926. Our newspaper’s first owner, Mr. Thorpe, owned around 20 local weekly newspapers, including The Carlisle Citizen, and operated his business out of the east side of Des Moines. Ben Mesenbrink worked for Mr. Thorpe and eventually bought The Carlisle Citizen from him. Mr. Mesenbrink and his business partner started Urbandale’s newspaper and printed both Urbandale’s and Carlisle’s newspapers out of their main office in Urbandale, where Mr. Mesenbrink lived. When Mr. Mesenbrink was ready to retire, he reached out to Robert and Steve Klein, a father and son duo who owned and operated Photo Printing, Inc. out of Carlisle, to see if they had any interest in purchasing his newspapers. Bob and Steve purchased The Carlisle Citizen as a hobby business and as a way to expand their printing portfolio. The Klein family’s ownership of The Carlisle Citizen has spanned three generations – Robert Klein, Steve Klein, and Sara Klein-Davis – and also includes North Warren Town and County News in Norwalk.
When the Kleins purchased The Carlisle Citizen, the newspaper’s office was located where present-day Optometric Associates is located in downtown Carlisle. It was in that office the newspaper’s editor at the time, Carl Zeh, helped establish the Carlisle Public Library, which was temporarily located in the newspaper’s office in its infancy. Mr. Zeh was also one of the original organizers of the Carlisle Chamber of Commerce. Shortly after purchasing The Carlisle Citizen, our newspaper’s office was moved to 220 S. 1st Street, right next to Bob and Steve’s print shop. Eventually the newspaper’s office moved into the print shop building; however, upon Steve’s retirement a couple years ago, the newspaper’s office moved back to 220 S. 1st Street!
In this day and age where media can be heavily criticized and the digital age has taken over, The Carlisle Citizen has pushed forward. Where many small towns have lost their newspapers completely, The Carlisle Citizen has flourished. Over the past 100 years our newspaper has seen and survived many events – advancements in air travel and the highway system; Wall Street crashing and the Great Depression; World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the War on Terror; the Apollo 11 moon landing; the Civil Rights Movement; the invention of the internet and cellphones; the Empire State Building being built; the Twin Towers being attacked on 9/11; the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; pandemics; and so much more.
Unlike other newspapers, The Carlisle Citizen is unique in the fact we print obituaries and engagement, wedding, and birth announcements for free! We aren’t looking to become rich; we have a passion for our two newspapers and keep our subscription and advertising rates low and affordable. We love printing local news that doesn’t make state and world headlines but are just as important – residents who have won ribbons at the county and state fairs, sports teams (young and old) competing, the school’s honor roll, church news, fundraisers, and everything in between you can think of, as well as achievements (big and small) of Carlisle’s businesses and residents from age one to 100!
If you have never submitted anything to us, I challenge you to in 2025 (we print most news for free!). Maybe it can be your New Year’s resolution? If you have submitted something to our newspaper in the past, I challenge you to do so again this year!
Do you have a subscription to our newspaper? It’s only $20 per year for seniors and $23 for those age 64 and younger. We’d love to have you give us a try!
Also, we’d love to hear from you about any connections you have to our newspaper, as well as any history or stories you’d like to share about our newspaper’s past.
Stop by our office, give us a call at 515-989-0525, or send us an email at [email protected].
From the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely thank you for the past 100 years! We look forward to the next century of serving our community.
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