DUANE
Duane's take
Now, the marker's the authority here, and I'm just the one bringin' it to life — so here's the story of the Huntsville Item, straight from the official record. Let me tell you something about a newspaper that refused to die. Refused.
Burned down, shut down, handed off, renamed — and it kept coming back. You almost have to respect the stubbornness of it. It starts with a man named George Robinson, born in England in 1820.
Before Huntsville, he'd been working over at the Galveston News. By 1846, he'd made his way to Huntsville, and on August 20, 1850, he set the whole thing in motion — the first edition of the Huntsville Item rolled off the press. That same year, he was already doing well enough to bring on an apprentice printer.
A modest start, sure, but a start. By 1859, George Robinson wasn't just running a newspaper — he was building one. Literally.
He and a dentist by the name of Dr. H. Morton went in together on a two-story building.
Dr. Morton set up his dental office on the first floor, and up above, the Item's printing operation and office took over the second floor. A dentist and a newspaper editor, sharing a building.
Walker County had range. The year 1860 brought a Canadian printer named R. H.
Griffin into the fold. Things were growing. Then came the Civil War, and George Robinson served six months in the Texas state troops before returning to Huntsville to keep the paper going.
He got back to work — until he couldn't. From 1867 to 1869, an epidemic of yellow fever and the hard economic conditions of Reconstruction interrupted the paper again. Two punches, back to back.
But here's where the story gets a particular kind of dramatic. The newspaper office burned in 1878. That's fire number one.
Then, 1884 — it burned again. Fire number two. Now, at this point, most folks might have taken that as a sign from the universe.
George Robinson, though, had been at this since 1850. He'd outlasted a war and a plague. But 1884 was the year his youngest son, Fred Robinson, stepped in and took over publication of the paper.
Fred moved operations into a building on the town square. Then into another structure in 1885. That building burned in 1892.
Fire number three. Fred Robinson kept going. Then, after yet another fire in 1902 — fire number four, if you're countin', and you should be — Fred Robinson sold the paper to a man named J.
A. Palmer. Palmer merged it with another Huntsville newspaper and renamed it the Huntsville Post-Item.
Owners changed, names changed, the whole masthead shuffled around more than once in the years that followed. But by 1914, it was the Item again — plain and simple — and it was being operated by a man named Ross Woodall. His family kept that paper running after his death in 1943.
In 1967, the Woodall family sold it to Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc., which held onto the Item until 1986. After that, several other companies took ownership in turn. Four fires.
A war. A yellow fever epidemic. Reconstruction.
Decades of changing hands. And the Huntsville Item is still counted among the oldest newspapers in the state of Texas. Some stories don't end — they just keep going to press.
What the marker says
English native George Robinson (1820-1888), formerly of the Galveston News, moved to Huntsville by 1846 and began printing the Huntsville Item on August 20, 1850. He was able to employ an apprentice printer that year. In 1859 Robinson and Dr. H. Morton, a dentist, built a two-story building. Dr. Morton's office was on the first floor, and the second floor housed the Item's printing operation and office. By 1860, Robinson employed a Canadian printer named R. H. Griffin. George Robinson served six months in the Texas state troops during the Civil War and then returned to Huntsville to continue publishing the Item. His work with the paper was again interrupted during an epidemic of yellow fever and the economic conditions of Reconstruction from 1867 to 1869. The newspaper office burned in 1878 and again in 1884. That year, George's youngest son, Fred Robinson, took over publication of the paper. He moved operations into a building on the town square and into another structure in 1885; that building burned in 1892. After another fire in 1902, Fred Robinson sold the paper to J. A. Palmer, who merged it with another Huntsville newspaper and renamed it the Huntsville Post-Item. The names, publishers and owners changed several times in the following years, but by 1914 it was the Item again, operated by Ross Woodall. His family continued to operate the paper after his death in 1943. In 1967 the Woodall family sold the paper to Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc., which owned the Item until 1986. Later owned by several other companies, the Huntsville Item is one of the oldest newspapers in Texas. (2000)