The Plattsmouth Journal

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The Journal History

The Journal, Cass County’s official newspaper, has stood the test of time from the days of the early settlers through world wars to today, amidst technological advances and social media. Its office is located at 410 Main Street and it is a subsidiary corporation of Lee Enterprises, Inc. Although it was not Plattsmouth’s first newspaper, it can officially trace its history to November 1870. The first newspaper in Plattsmouth appeared early in 1857 when the Plattsmouth Jeffersonian was published under L.D. Jeffries and assisted by J.D. Ingalls. Having dissolved by 1858, however, Alfred Townsend moved the equipment he had been publishing the Platte Valley Times at Pacific City, Iowa, to Plattsmouth. Here, it published the Platte Valley Herald for about a year, before moving west. The Cass County Sentinel sprung up in the spring of 1859 in Rock Bluffs. Its editor and publisher E. Giles moved it to Plattsmouth and continued to print issues for a few month before selling it to Joseph L. Early. Early started the short-lived Democratic Times. In February 1865, H.D. Hathaway launched the Nebraska Herald, which he sold to John A. McMurphy in 1872. Ten years later, McMurphy sold the Nebraska-Herald to Plattsmouth Publishing Company. Under the publishing company, Nebraska-Herald became a daily newspaper. It then sold it to R.B. Windham, who stopped issuing it every day. The Knott brothers purchased the Herald and published it daily until 1887. The Journal bought the Herald in 1909. Fox and Fullilove started the Cass County Democrat in 1870 and sold it two years later to F. McDonough. He changed the name to Nebraska Watchman and moved to Council Bluffs in 1878. The Deutsche Wacht, written in German, started in October 1875. Like others, it only lasted two years. The Cass County Chronicle moved from Louisville to Plattsmouth in 1877, but also failed two years later. The Daily Enterprise started in 1879 until it consolidated with the Nebraska Herald in 1879. On November 5, 1881, Charles W. Sherman crossed the Missouri River from Glenwood, Iowa, to establish the Journal. The newspaper is the only one to endure in Plattsmouth, though 17 other publications were on the scene at one time or another, mostly during the 19th Century. Sherman sold The Journal to Robert Bates in 1902. Bates and his wife ran the paper for many years. His wife took over The Journal and Bates Book Store, 409 Main Street, after Charles died. In 1937, she added a leased wire service. The next owner of The Journal was Lester Walker of Fremont. He operated The Journal as a daily, except during World War II when he cut back publication. He sold the paper to Ronald Furse in the spring of 1947. Furse constructed The Journal’s present office at 410 Main, across from its former office. In 1957, he sold the newspaper to Howard Lindquist and Eugene Scarlett. Furse stayed in Plattsmouth until 1965 when he and his son bought the Aurora Nebraska News-Register. Lindquist bought out his partner in the mid 1960s. He sold it to J.W. and his son, William, Parsons from Oregon, Mo., in 1973. Ten years later after converting to offset printing, they sold The Journal to George Miller of Papillion, former publisher of the Papillion Times and other Sarpy and Douglas County newspapers. Today, The Journal publishes weekly on Thursdays. Content for The Journal is electronically sent to page designers in Munster, Ind. It is paginated in Munster and completed pages are electronically sent back to Plattsmouth where they are proofed and final changes are recommended. In addition to weekly print edition, The Journal publishes new stories daily on its website: cass-news.com. In May 2016, the website had 65,000 page views. The Journal also publishes The Consumer Connection, an advertising product that is delivered to most residents in Cass County for free, and the annual Live It Up Guide, which comes out every June and highlights each community in the county.