The following is a history synopsis written by John Burris in 2005:
The Coffeyville Journal, a venerable institution of southeast Kansas which will turn 147 this October, has a history steeped in the development of the community.
• William Peffer
On Oct. 30, 1875, the first edition of The Coffeyville Journal rolled off a press owned by former U.S. William Peffer, an idealist whose name and beli
efs became synonymous with a political movement called "populism." When Peffer arrived in Coffeyville in 1875, Coffeyville was six years old and little more than a village. Parker, only slightly older and more prosperous, lay across the Verdigris River, with 570 residents when the first census was taken in 1870. But, one factor changed the flow of population from Parker to Coffeyville more than any other - the railroad. By 1871, the railroad construction turned Coffeyville into a boom town, replete with saloons, dance halls and widespread gambling. Parker grew slightly during the next 10 years, to about 795 residents in 1884, but Coffeyville gained more rapidly, with 1,635 residents, a gain of more than 600 in one year alone. During Peffer's tenure as owner, publisher and editor of the Journal, Coffeyville was experiencing fast-paced growth. Peffer published The Coffeyville Journal for five years. The subscription rate for the then-weekly publication was $1.50 per year.
• William Jake Peffer Jr. After publishing the Journal for five years from 1875 to 1880, Peffer turned over the newspaper and its operations to his son, William Jake Peffer Jr., who published the paper until 1885. Very little is known about the younger Peffer, and his tenure as editor and publisher of the Journal did not see much change.
• D.S. Elliott and W.G. Weaverling
Peffer Jr. then sold the Journal to Col. Elliott, who, along with managing partner W.G. Weaverling, led the paper through the colorful wild west period of Coffeyville's heritage. In 1892, when the Dalton gang raided two banks, Elliot's first-hand account of the raid, published in the Oct. 7 issue, became one of the leading sources for information on the infamous event. Oddly, the coverage of the raid, which included diagrams, was not found on the front page, as such an important story would certainly be today. It was found on the fourth page. The front page at that time was commonly sold as a full-page advertisement, usually to Wells Brothers Hardware. Following the raid, Elliott published a small book about it, which also became a leading source of information. News of other notorious outlaws reached the pages of the Journal during Elliott and Weaverling's tenure from all areas of the country to give subscribers a little excitement. To paint a wild west flavor to the Journal of that time is not totally accurate, however. Most issues that Elliott managed were filled with advertising and hometown news. One column ran stories "gleaned from the telegraph and the mail," which meant they were often rewritten accounts from other newspapers. Elliott turned over management to Weaverling on Sept. 1, 1897, a time when news was taking a more worldly view. People in Coffeyville were becoming less and less isolated from the day-to-day rest of the world, when Elliott retired from the newspaper field. Under Weaverling, the local news was carried, but more national headlines filled the pages. The U.S. entered the Spanish-American War in 1898, and Elliott volunteered for duty. The distant world troubles came home in June 1899, when the Journal reported that Elliott was killed by a Filipino sharpshooter north of Manila. By the 1910s, comics had made their way into the Journal's pages. The first comic to appear in the Journal was "Scoop: the Cub Reporter." Weaverling tired of the business and began looking to sell. In 1914, he found a buyer.
• Hugh J. Powell
Hugh J. Powell began his 33-year tenure as editor and publisher of The Coffeyville Journal in 1914. It was an odd set of circumstances that eventually landed Powell in the editor's chair of The Coffeyville Journal. While traveling from Tulsa to Cherryvale by train, a delay forced Powell to miss the train from Coffeyville to Cherryvale. According to a Journal story, Powell was standing at Eighth and Walnut wondering how to spend his time when Hal Weaver, a Coffeyville realtor, rushed over to greet him. "You," Weaver said, "are just the one I want to see. You're going to buy The Coffeyville Journal." "And you," Powell responded, "are talking through your hat." Weaver wasn't, and Powell did. In July 1914, Powell purchased The Coffeyville Journal, and things were never to be the same. In 1919, Powell merged the Journal with The Coffeyville Sun, owned by Stanley Platz. It was a good alliance as the Journal prospered under the partnership. Platz later sold out in 1939 because of ill health. But during the time they were together, Platz and Powell achieved probably the two most important goals of Powell's tenure: the construction of the Journal building at Eighth and Elm and the purchase of KGGF radio. The Journal building was finished in 1929 and at the time, it was considered one of the best three newspaper plants in the state. It was dedicated Nov. 5, 1929, in an elaborate housewarming party. On April 1, 1947, Powell announced the sale of the Journal family to members of the Seaton family in Manhattan.
• Richard M. Seaton
The Seaton family formed the Coffeyville Publishing Company, headed by Richard M. Seaton, when it purchased the Journal and KGGF. Richard Seaton was born Jan. 25, 1913, in Washington, D.C., and reared in Manhattan, where his father, Fay N. Seaton, had published The Mercury since purchasing it in 1915. Seaton attended Manhattan schools and graduated in 1934 with a degree in journalism from what is now Kansas State University. Seaton would expand the paper's circulation, bring new technologies and incorporate new ideas. Under Powell, the Journal had been exclusively sympathetic to the Republican party, a sympathy that was dropped quickly when Seaton declared the Journal a politically independent paper. The Journal's circulation was about 8,000 when it was purchased. Over the next several years, through aggressive circulation efforts and by extending the paper's coverage to towns north of Independence - Neodesha and Fredonia - the Journal's circulation was raised to 10,000. On April 1, 1968, the Journal embraced modern newspaper technology. Breakthroughs in the printing industry made available a new method of typesetting, and the monstrous linotype machines of the past were discarded. In 1978, after a 31-year tenure as an innovative publisher of The Coffeyville Journal, Seaton decided to sell the newspaper.
• Gannett Company
On Feb. 22, 1978, Seaton announced the sale of the Journal to the Gannett Publishing Company, which owned over 75 newspapers in the United States and abroad. The Coffeyville Journal became a spoke in the wheel of a large corporation. During Gannett's tenure as the parent company, the systems in the Journal were given further modernization. Computers replaced typewriters, and color photographs became common on the front pages of the Sunday editions. When the purchase was complete, Gannett named Journal editor Dan Hamrick as editor and publisher. During the 10 years Gannett operated the Journal, the position was refilled three times. Pam Meals replaced Hamrick, Susanne Shaw replaced Meals, and Michael Lind replaced Shaw. In 1988, Gannett sold the Journal while in a cutback phase.
• Hometown Communications, CNHI, and the present
In November 1988 the Journal reported its own sale once again, this time to Hometown Communications Inc., Little Rock, Ark., a subsidiary of Phillips Media Services of Florida. Jim Holland, an Arkansas native, became publisher in 1989. Holland was promoted within the company in 1991, and was replaced by Mike Thornberry. Under Thornberry, the Journal went through two ownership changes. The first was on April 1, 1997, to Murphy McGinnis Media of Duluth, Minn. The second occurred Dec. 20, 1998 to Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. of Birmingham, Ala. In March 2000, CNHI promoted Thornberry to publisher of The Banner, a six day-a-week daily 10,000 circulation newspaper in Duncan, Okla. CNHI promoted Robin Brown to publisher of The Coffeyville Journal. In November 2000, CNHI promoted Chris Zimmerman to general manager of The Coffeyville Journal. She later was promoted to publisher. In May 2005, Chris Zimmerman left to take a position as general manager of The Daily Herald in McDonough, Ga. In late 2005, CNHI hired Rudy Taylor to take The Journal's reins.
• In October 2007 the Journal was purchased by Sumner Media, a small company with four newspapers in Oklahoma and just the one in Kansas. Darrell Sumner, a Coffeyville native, purchased the Journal along with two Oklahoma papers from CNHI. On November 1, 2014 an exciting new change as come to The Coffeyville Journal. The business as purchased by Montgomery County Media, and owners Scott Wesner and Scott Wood bring with them both positive attitudes and the promise of a stronger newspaper.
