DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. You know, some things in Texas just refuse to quit. The Williamson County Sun is one of them.
Jessie E. Cooper founded the paper, and the first issue rolled off the press on May 19, 1877. Now Jessie was born in 1855 and lived all the way to 1944, which means he got to watch his creation grow for a good long while.
And grow it did. In its first century of operation, the Sun didn't just print the news. It made some.
The paper initiated the building of the first railroad in Georgetown. It pushed for the Wesleyan Retirement Home. It championed low cost housing.
This was a newspaper that apparently believed its job wasn't finished when the ink dried. Over the years, the editor's chair got passed around to some capable hands. Frank T.
Roche sat in it. So did John R. Allen, John M.
Sharpe, and Robert W. Cooper, who happened to be the son of the founder himself. Then in 1948, Donald and Clara Scarbrough became the second full owners of the enterprise, carrying on what Jessie Cooper had started back in the days when Georgetown was still finding its footing.
The Sun holds the title of oldest newspaper in Williamson County, and it earned that title the hard way, by showing up every single week, decade after decade. In 1974, the weekly Sun became a semi-weekly. Two editions a week now.
Because apparently, once a week just wasn't enough news for Williamson County anymore.
What the marker says
First published on May 19, 1877, the "Williamson County Sun" was founded by Jessie E. Cooper (1855-1944). In its first century of operation, the "Sun" initiated numerous civic projects, such as the building of the first railroad in Georgetown, Wesleyan Retirement Home, and low cost housing. Editors of the paper included Frank T. Roche, John R. Allen, John M. Sharpe, and Robert W. Cooper, son of the founder. Donald and Clara Scarbrough became the second full owners of the enterprise in 1948. The oldest newspaper in Williamson County, the weekly "Sun" became a semi-weekly in 1974. (1978)