DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little room to breathe. There's a newspaper in Bay City with a story that stretches back to around 1845 — and that alone ought to stop you in your tracks, because that puts it among the oldest papers in the entire state of Texas still running presses. That's not a boast.
That's just the record. It didn't start here, though. The paper began its life about twenty-two miles south, down in the town of Matagorda.
Now, Matagorda County has seen some things — hurricanes, not one but several, and a yellow fever epidemic that swept through in the 1870s. That paper was there for all of it. Puttin' words to the kind of events people would rather forget but absolutely cannot afford to.
A community's memory lives in its newspaper, and this one kept that memory alive through some of the worst nature could throw at the Texas Gulf Coast. Then came the 1890s. Bay City was named the new county seat of Matagorda County, and the business made the move north to follow where the county's heart was now beating.
That's the kind of practical wisdom that keeps an institution alive — you go where the story is. The paper changed hands over the years, and the names of every publisher are inscribed right on the back side of this very marker — a list worth finding if you've got a moment. Then in 1958, Bay City Newspapers, Inc. assumed ownership, and that's who's been holding the torch since.
Nearly a century and a half of hurricanes, epidemics, county seats, and changing hands — and the presses are still rolling. Some things in Texas are just built to last.
What the marker says
Publication of this newspaper, one of the oldest in the state still in operation, began about 1845 in the nearby town of Matagorda (22 miles south). The business was moved to Bay City in the 1890's, soon after the town was named the new county seat of Matagorda county. Major events covered by the paper include several hurricanes and a yellow fever epidemic of the 1870's. A list of the publishers is inscribed on the reverse of this marker. The present owners, Bay City Newspapers, Inc., assumed ownership in 1958. (1981)