Kerrville Daily Times

Duane's take

Well, the official marker tells this story, and I'm just gonna do it justice. Pull up a chair around the fire, because this one's about ink and grit and a little Hill Country stubbornness that never quite quit. Kerr County has seen plenty of newspapers come and go over the years.

Most of them started up, made a little noise, and then went quiet. But one paper kept on. The Kerrville Daily Times.

The marker calls it the only daily newspaper published in the Hill Country, and one of the oldest businesses in continuous operation in the county. Now here's where the story begins to get interesting. That paper didn't start out called the Kerrville Daily Times.

It didn't even start out in Kerrville. It started as the Center Point News, back in 1910. A modest little publication out of Center Point, and nobody at the time could have guessed where it was headed.

Enter James J. Starkey. Son of Kerr County pioneers J.M. and Martha Starkey.

In 1925, James led a group of investors who moved the Center Point News right into Kerrville. And he didn't stop there. He renamed the publication The Latest.

Now, whether that name sat well with readers or not, James himself apparently had second thoughts, because come January of 1926, he changed it again. This time he called it the Hill View Times, and he wrote his reason down plain: that a person standing on a hill top and viewing the times of the day can get a clear and accurate perspective of events. A man with a philosophy, and a pen to back it up.

But he wasn't done naming things. In October of 1926, the paper became The Kerrville Times. That one stuck.

James also found time to serve in community affairs, including as chairman of the Democratic Party in Kerr County. He had opinions, he had ink, and he had a platform. In 1934, James sold the assets of The Times publishing company to his nephew, G.

Rankin Starkey. But James didn't walk away from the words. He kept writing a weekly column called Pioneer History, and he kept writing it until his death, twenty years later.

G. Rankin Starkey and co-publisher Sam P. Braswell took that weekly paper and, in March of 1949, converted it to a daily run.

That's when the Kerrville Daily Times was born, and the Hill Country had itself a proper daily newspaper. The story keeps moving. William E.

Dozier added a weekend edition to The Times in 1976, and then in 1979 was elected president of the Texas Press Association. The paper later produced an electronic edition and purchased the assets of the Kerrville Mountain Sun, continuing to publish that historic newspaper too. Then in 1995, a Texas company called Southern Newspapers Inc. purchased The Times.

From a small-town weekly called the Center Point News to the Hill Country's only daily, through name changes and ownership changes and format changes, the paper just kept on publishing. The marker says it plain: The Times and its employees have a long history of service to the community and the newspaper industry. Some things out here in Texas, they're built to last.

What the marker says

Several newspapers have served the residents of Kerr County since its organization. Most of these have ceased to publish but one, the Kerrville Daily Times, has served area readers as the only daily newspaper published in the Hill Country. One of the oldest businesses in continuous operation in the county, the paper began as the Center Point News in 1910. James J. Starkey, son of Kerr County pioneers J.M. and Martha Starkey, led a group of investors who moved the Center Point News to Kerrville in 1925. Starkey originally renamed his publication The Latest, but changed the name in January 1926 to the Hill View Times, writing that “a person standing on a hill top and viewing the times of the day can get a clear and accurate perspective of events.” In October 1926, Starkey once again changed the name of his weekly newspaper to The Kerrville Times. He also served in community affairs, including as chairman of the Democratic Party in Kerr County. James sold the assets of The Times publishing company to his nephew, G. Rankin Starkey, in 1934, and continued to write a weekly column, “Pioneer History,” until his death twenty years later. G. Rankin Starkey and co-publisher Sam P. Braswell converted the weekly paper to a daily run in March 1949 with the debut of the Kerrville Daily Times. William E. Dozier, who added a weekend edition to The Times in 1976, was elected president of the Texas Press Association in 1979. The Times later produced an electronic edition and purchased the assets of the kerrville mountain sun, continuing to publish that historic newspaper. A Texas company, Southern Newspapers Inc., purchased The Times in 1995. The Times and its employees have a long history of service to the community and the newspaper industry.