DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most newspapers are born and forgotten, but the Galveston News — well, this one lived a life worth a campfire story or two. It started in 1842, founded by a man named Samuel Bangs, who holds a distinction as Texas' first printer.
First printer in all of Texas. You don't get that kind of title without being early and being bold. After 1843, a fellow named Willard Richardson took over publication, and Richardson wasn't thinking small.
He put up the first four-story building in all of Galveston just to house the offices and the printing plant. Four stories. In Galveston.
That tells you something about how seriously these men took the printed word. Then 1861 came, and the Civil War came with it, and the News cut back from a tri-weekly down to a weekly — because paper and ink and staff don't come easy when a war is eating everything. Then in 1862, Governor Francis R.
Lubbock asked civilians to evacuate Galveston, and the News packed up and moved to Houston. And if you thought Houston would be a safe harbor, think again. Fire found them.
February — the paper was destroyed by fire. Now most outfits would fold right there. Not the News.
Come April, they were back in print. What did they print on? Straw paper.
Yellow tissue. With few columns to fill, getting Galveston items by messenger, because back home in Galveston, a Union sympathizer was freely publishing a rival sheet called Flake's Bulletin without a care in the world. Meanwhile the News had a sideline — the Texas Almanac, first put out in 1857 to attract immigration and summarize state events.
During the war years, that Almanac moved to Austin, where David Richardson published it as the Tri-Weekly Almanac Extra. The paper endured all of it — fire, exile, war, straw paper — and when the war was over, a Confederate veteran named A. H.
Belo joined the News staff in 1865. The very next year, 1866, he moved with it back to Galveston, back home. Belo kept climbing.
By 1875 he had become chief owner of both the News and the Texas Almanac. Then in 1878 he did something nobody in Texas had done before — he installed the state's first telephone, running a line from his office to his home. And if that wasn't enough, on October 1st, 1885, Belo founded the Dallas Morning News.
That made him the first publisher in history to run duplicate newspapers issued over three hundred miles apart. Born in fire. Printed on straw paper.
And it still grew. Now that's a Texas newspaper.
What the marker says
Founded 1842 by Samuel Bangs, Texas' first printer. Published after 1843 by Willard Richardson, who put up the first 4-story building in Galveston to house the offices and printing plant. Soon after the Civil War began in 1861, cut back from a tri-weekly, to weekly. When Governor Francis R. Lubbock in 1862 asked civilians to evacuate, moved to Houston. Destroyed by fire in February, resumed publication in April on straw paper or yellow tissue, and with few columns. Galveston items came by messenger, while back home a Union sympathizer freely published "Flake's Bulletin." The "Texas Almanac," a sideline first put out in 1857 to attract immigration and summarize state events, was published in war years in Austin by David Richardson as the "Tri-Weekly Almanac Extra." Confederate veteran A. H. Belo joined the "News" staff in 1865 and in 1866 moved with it back to Galveston. In 1875, became chief owner of the "News" and "Texas Almanac." In 1878 he installed Texas' first telephone from his office to his home. With the founding of the Dallas "Morning News," Oct. 1, 1885, Belo became the first publisher with duplicate newspapers issued over 300 miles apart.