American Guide Series: The WPA Federal Writers' Project: The Guides
Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State, 1940.
The GALVESTON NEWS-TRIBUNE PLANT (open 8:30-
5:30 workdays), 2108-16 Mechanic St., is the home of the oldest daily newspaper in Texas. The building, completed in 1884, is of Victorian type, and is faced chiefly in red brick, with ornamental features of white and pink stone and touches of yellow. Nicholas J. Clayton was the architect
Established in 1842 by Samuel Bangs and George H. French, and
soon afterward sold to Michael Cronican and Wilbur F. Cherry, the
News in 1845 became the property of Willard Richardson, under whom
it gained recognition without the aid of either railroads or telegraph. The paper became known throughout the South as The Old Lady by the Sea. During the Civil War it was published in Houston, returning to Galveston soon after hostilities came to an end.
In 1866 Alfred H. Belo became part owner, and on the death of his partner in 1875 took full charge. He attended the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, and was so greatly impressed by a demonstration of the recently invented telephone that in 1878 he installed a set between his home and the newspaper office, stringing the wires on trees and over housetops. In 1879, when the first telephone exchange in Texas was established in Galveston, the News was its first subscriber. It was the first newspaper in Texas to use a regular telegraph service, and was also a charter member of the Associated Press. In 1923 it was purchased by W. L. Moody, Jr., who in 1926 combined it with the Galveston Tribune, publishing the two papers as morning and evening editions.
Galveston County - The Daily News accessed June 11, 2019.
The History of The Daily News
When the first edition of The Daily News appeared April 11, 1842, it attracted little notice. At the time, it would never have occurred to its founders that the newspaper would still be here today as the oldest continuously published newspaper in Texas. The first edition was published by George French from a single story building on Tremont Street in downtown Galveston.
At the time, Texas was an independent republic. Sam Houston was finishing his last term as president. Galveston was a fledgling village of more than 4,000 citizens — and anything that came into Texas from the Gulf of Mexico came through Galveston.
The Daily News, considered to be the dean of all businesses in Texas, has continued to maintain a standard of excellence throughout the years. Published as a weekly, bi-weekly, tri-weekly and finally a daily publication, it is followed in age by the Austin American-Statesman.
The newspaper has a reputation for staying on the cutting edge of technology, from being the first business in Texas to install a telephone to embracing the Internet in early 1990s..
The newspaper founded The Dallas Morning News on Oct. 1, 1885. The Dallas newspaper is considered to be Texas' oldest business institution, due in part to its affiliation with The Daily News.
During The Civil War, the newspaper was briefly published in Houston. Following the war, from 1866-1884, The Daily News occupied three floors of an iron-fronted building in the 2200 block of Market Street in downtown Galveston.And for more than 80 years, the newspaper occupied a brick structure in the 2100 block of Mechanic Street — the first building in the United States designed solely for a newspaper plant.
The newspaper has been owned by the Moody family of Galveston and, for a period of time in the 1960s, was owned by Oveta Culp Hobby, whose family also owned The Houston Post during the same period.
The Daily News moved to its 8522 Teichman Road facility in 1965, where the newspaper's Galveston offices are still located today.
Galveston Newspapers Inc. acquired ownership of The Daily News in 1967 and the newspaper converted to morning delivery.
Renamed The Galveston County Daily News on November 1, 1993, the newspaper branched out from its island home and began placing a new emphasis on serving the entire county in which it is based.
The newspaper opened a mainland customer service center in La Marque. The facility would house employees from all departments of the newspaper for more than 10 years and allow The Daily News to better service its customers throughout the county.
The Daily News was among the first papers in the state to begin publishing online, launching its award-winning web edition on Christmas Day 1995 to extend the newspaper's reach far beyond Galveston County.
In November 2004, The Daily News joined with the Texas City Sun. The merger brought together the readership, staffs and advertisers of the two papers under The Galveston County Daily News name. The combined paper now offers the best features of both publications.
The Daily News closed its mainland service center in La Marque with the merger, consolidating all of its mainland operations in the former Texas City Sun building at 7800 Emmett F. Lowry Expressway.
The merger strengthened the newspaper and allowed it to reach more readers than ever in print and online. The combined paper also now offers greater reach and value to its customers.
The paper continues to focus on Galveston County and the surrounding areas, telling the area's stories one day at a time.
© 2019 Galveston Newspapers, Inc.