DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the Uvalde Leader-News. Now, some newspapers are born. Some are built.
And some — well, some are assembled piece by piece over decades, like a ranch that keeps annexing its neighbors until it's the only spread left standing. The story starts back in 1879, when Uvalde got its first taste of local print with The Hesperian. Then came The West Texan in 1884, followed by The Uvalde News in 1886.
By 1898, a paper called The Leader joined the mix. That's four newspapers trying to make a go of it in one South Texas town. The odds, you might say, were not in everyone's favor.
Now here's where it gets interesting. January of 1898, an Englishman named Harry P. Hornby steps off into Uvalde.
He hadn't been there three weeks before he launched The Leader himself. Three weeks. You spend longer than that just thinking about rearranging the furniture.
But Hornby, he wasn't the furniture-rearranging type. Three years after that, The Leader absorbed The News and took on the name it carries to this day — The Leader-News. One paper standing where four had jostled for position.
The paper was sold in 1908 to Frank M. Getzendaner, and then again in 1919 to Bessie Fletcher. But by 1925, Harry P.
Hornby was back — this time as Editor and Publisher. And if running a newspaper wasn't enough to fill a man's calendar, Hornby also served as mayor of Uvalde from 1926 to 1930. Then came 1931, and the moment that put this little South Texas paper on the national map.
The Leader-News threw its full weight behind a local citizen named John Nance Garner for Vice President of the United States. The marker doesn't just say it covered the race. It says the paper gave triumphant support — and the nation noticed.
Time moved on, as it does. Harry P. Hornby was born in 1876 and died in 1948.
But before that year closed, the paper had already found its next hands. His son, Harry Hornby — four years as a U.S. Marine officer behind him — had begun editing The Leader-News in 1946, and he and his wife became owners in 1948.
The tradition held. In the 1960s, The Leader-News got behind another local resident, a man named Dolph Briscoe, boosting his candidacy with the same conviction it had shown in 1931. Briscoe went on to become the Governor of Texas.
And through all of it — the sales, the mergers, the mayors and governors and vice presidents — The Leader-News kept faith with the policies laid out in that very first issue. Supporting new enterprise and industry. Promoting education, recreation, and conservation improvements, not just in Uvalde but across the state.
One Englishman, three weeks, and a printing press. Turns out that was enough to start something that outlasted just about everything else.
What the marker says
This newspaper succeeded earlier ones: The Uvalde "Hesperian" (founded 1879), "West Texan" (1884), The Uvalde "News" (1886), and The "Leader" of 1898. Harry P. Hornby (1876-1948), an Englishman, arrived in January 1898 and in three weeks launched The "Leader". Three years later this paper absorbed The "News" and took the present name. The "Leader-News" was sold in 1908 to Frank M. Getzendaner and in 1919 to Bessie Fletcher. By 1925, Hornby was again Editor and Publisher. He also had other business and civic activities, including holding office as mayor in 1926-1930. The paper attracted national attention in 1931 by its triumphant support of local citizen John Nance Garner for the Vice President of the United States. The son, Harry Hornby, after four years as a U.S. Marine officer, began editing The "Leader-News" in 1946, and with his wife became owner in 1948. The paper in the 1960s boosted the candidacy of another local resident, Dolph Briscoe, who became the Governor of Texas. Maintaining policies stated in the first issue, The "Leader-News" continues to support new enterprise and industry; its editorials promote education, recreation, and conservation improvements in Uvalde and throughout the state. 1976