Forty years ago, on Jan. 23, 1979, history was made when The Times-Republican issue from that date came from their new location. It was the first time in more than 90 years the newspaper did not originate from the office at 113 West Jackson Street.
Since that time, The Times-Republican has seen more growth. Advancements in technology and even taking another growth step when we upgraded to our newest and current location at 204 South Franklin Street.
Taking a step back in time, the first paper in Wayne County was called the South Tier Democrat and was established in approximately 1860. During this era the paper sympathized with the confederacy.
The Corydon Monitor, a paper concerned with the Union side of the war and named for a famous battleship was started in 1863. This paper would continue until 1871 when it was then renamed as the Corydon Times.
In 1865 Charles F. LeCompte, an 18-year old printer traveled to Corydon and began his employment at the Corydon Times. This began the history of newspaper publishing with the LeCompte family.
LeCompte lived in Allerton for a period of time, then after purchasing the Corydon Times and the Wayne County Republican in Allerton, he merged the two papers and moved to Corydon.
With LeCompte as the owner, he added W. M. Littel as a partner. According to a historical recap, in approximately 1890, LeCompte purchased Little’s interest and became the sole owner of the paper.
LeCompte became the postmaster in 1900, turning over the newspaper to his son W.R. LeCompte. W.R. turned the paper into a bi-weekly publication. Following his death at the young age of 35 in 1910, his brother Karl M. LeCompte returned to publish the family paper after his graduation from the University of Iowa.
In 1924 after Charles passed away, the sole ownership of the Times-Republican was turned over to Karl. He continued as publisher until rights were sold in 1967 to News Consolidated, Centerville.
Following the sale, the newspaper would continue on under the Times-Republican name with Charles DePuy as the publisher and his wife the news editor. Charles came onboard having worked with larger newspapers previously. His coverage of the 1961 airline crash near Cincinnati, Iowa earned him a national news award showcasing his journalistic talent.
The DePuy’s left Corydon in 1972 when both began careers for the Centerville Iowegian. A University of Missouri graduate Roger Bryant succeeded Charles as the new publisher for the Times-Republican. Bryant spent only a short time at the T-R until 1977, when Hugh and Veronica Doty purchased the T-R.
With the Doty’s still as owners, Rhonda Bennett was hired and began her career with the Times-Republican in April of 1986 as a front desk receptionist. Her role quickly changed to advertising sales.
In 1988 John and Peggy Roberts purchased the Times-Republican. The Roberts also owned the newspapers in Princeton and Unionville, Mo at this time.
A short three years later Lancaster Newspapers with headquarters in Gadsden, Ala. purchased the T-R. To this day Lancaster still owns the T-R.
In 1992 Bennett was named General Manager followed by her promotion to Publisher in 1993.
The history of the Times-Republican has been one of continued growth and survival when other Wayne County papers in Allerton and Lineville folded.
With the newest advancements in technology, the Times-Republican continues to grow and make moves into the new era. In June of 2018 the e-edition came to life along with the new and improved Corydon Times webpage.
Our e-edition puts the entire weekly publication online, which becomes live to the public at 12:01 a.m. on each Tuesday. Our webpage allows us to upload our front-page stories, advertisements from area businesses along with obituaries and other national news headlines to keep you up to date.
In September 2018 the Times-Republican took another giant leap to the future with a new and improved page. With this page came the ability to interact more with our readers by keeping our followers alert on weather forecasts, which includes school closings, early dismissals and late starts, along with sharing links to our webpage stories. Our page continues to grow daily as we strive to keep our online followers aware of events and happenings in the county.
Even as the times change, our commitment to you remains the same, to continue to bring you all the latest news from Corydon and Wayne County in a timely fashion.
To find us on Facebook search for our page Corydon Times-Republican and to find us on the web, www.corydontimes.com. As always you can email [email protected] with any news, advertising or events.
