Col. Marsh Murdock -- Wichita KS
N 37° 41.500 W 097° 20.280
14S E 646533 N 4172905
A rough granite block with a plaque honoring Col. Marsh Murdock, who was the founder and editor of the Wichita Eagle newspaper, among other contributions to this city.
Waymark Code: WMH0QC
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 05/03/2013
Views: 4
A rough granite block with a plaque was installed at the corner of W 3rd St and N Main in 1922 marking the site where Col. Marsh Murdock established the Wichita Eagle newspaper.
The plaque reads as follows:
"At this corner
COL. MARSH MURDOCK
Established
THE WICHITA EAGLE
April 12, 1872
-----
Erected by
The Wichita Eagle
And its
Employees
1922"
From the Chronicling America website: (
visit link)
"Established as the first daily newspaper in Wichita to carry the Eagle name, the Daily Eagle printed four pages of news each day except Monday beginning on May 20, 1884. The Daily Eagle boasted of having “the largest circulation of any daily paper in southwestern Kansas.” Although the Daily Eagle only produced a mere 17 issues, its name remains synonymous with its successors, as well as with the city itself. On June 8, 1884, the Daily Eagle became the Whichita Daily Eagle, which circulated under that name until August 18, 1886, when it was changed simply to the Wichita Eagle. The publication schedule remained the same, but the size of each issue fluctuated between four, six, and eight pages and frequently included supplements. In 1888, the Eagle began routinely publishing a larger, 12-page Sunday edition reaching an additional 1,000 readers each week.
Marshall M. Murdock (1837-1908), a man recognized for his progressive ideas, worked as the editor and publisher of the Eagle, assisted by his younger brother and business manager, Roland P. Murdock (1843-1906). The elder Murdock, commonly known as “Marsh,” had first established the weekly Wichita City Eagle in 1872 and remained with the paper through all its title changes until his retirement in 1906. Murdock believed a strong daily newspaper supporting local and regional commercial interests would help Wichita “not only to be the city of this greatest of great valleys, but possibly, even probably, the city of the State of Kansas.” [end]
MUCH more on Marsh Murdock can be read in a paper from the KS Historical Society:
(
visit link)