LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
PARIS—Nov. 29, marks the start of a new era for The Prairie Press. A little more than 10 years after its first edition, the publication is making major changes to its print schedule and format.
The first thing readers will notice is the Press’ new publication day. From today on, The Prairie Press will arrive in mailboxes and newsstands on Friday each week – a day earlier than it has for the last decade.
Readers are also likely to pick out the changes to the papers’ size. Each page measures 11 ⅜ by 17 ½-inches. The format is roughly 4 ½ inches shorter than the paper’s prior publications, but each page is still packed with the same timely and accurate local news readers have come to expect.
Both of these changes are a result of The Prairie Press’ new partnership with KK Stevens Publishing Company in Astoria, Ill., and will allow the Press to continue providing coverage of the local stories that matter most to Edgar County and the surrounding area.
Our staff hopes readers will notice a significant improvement in print quality, namely in photos and colorful graphics. Close collaboration with the team at KK Stevens has allowed us to fine-tune our page design settings and workflow, making for a print product with clear images that reflect the award-winning quality of the Press’ coverage.
Each of these changes breaks new ground for The Prairie Press, but prior to the Press’ founding in 2014, change was commonplace among Edgar County’s news outlets.
The first newspaper in Edgar County, the Illinois Statesman, was established in 1840 by a group of local entrepreneurs. The Statesman lasted three years before a lack of local support forced the publication to shut its doors. The next outlet to call Edgar County home arrived in 1848, thanks in large part to a man named Jacob Harding.
In June of that year, citizens in Edgar County felt the need for a way to “distribute news” and “advance the cause of humanity.”
Together, they agreed on the establishment of a newspaper for “politics, morality, literature, agriculture, foreign and domestic news, commerce and amusement,” according to an 1898 article published by that same newspaper. That paper was The Paris Beacon – a journalistic institution that spawned a lineage of local reporting spanning 176 years and counting. During that time, The Paris Beacon underwent a number of changes and facelifts.
The paper’s publication date would continue to change over the years. The name, fonts, formats and styles would also change in the nearly two centuries since the first publication hit the newsstands in Edgar County.
In its original form, (The Paris Beacon) was a four-column, six-page column paper. The paper was compiled and edited by Harding from a building on the west side of the square and made its appearance every Friday, until September of 1851, when it began to premiere on Thursdays. In April of 1855 the paper’s publication returned to Fridays – a tradition reborn starting today.
The Paris Beacon’s circulation tripled in size during its first few years, quickly growing and expanding across all departments. The business traded hands several times after Harding stepped down from his role, eventually landing in the hands of Charles Hitch. Hitch owned and published the Beacon for 26 years, according to the late Edward “Ned” Jenison, longtime editor and publisher of the Paris Beacon-News.
Jenison shared Paris’ rich history of journalism during WEIU’s Paris: This is Our Story television special.
“In 1926, my grandfather, Ernest Jenison moved to Paris and purchased the Paris Beacon, and in 1927 he purchased The Daily News, combining them into the current Beacon News,” Jenison recalled.
Staff at “The Beacon” transcribed much of Paris’ history, watching the community change, evolve and persevere through many of the challenges faced by small rural communities. The Beacon also survived challenges of its own, including a fire that destroyed the equipment in its press room in the 1940s, during the height of the Second World War.
Nevertheless, the Beacon News fought on with the help of neighboring papers in Charleston and Kansas. For decades, the Beacon provided coverage of local events and continued to do so after it was purchased by a man named Phillip T. Smith around the mid-2000s.
Shortly after it was founded by veteran staff from the Beacon, The Prairie Press purchased its predecessor in June of 2016 and continued to publish the Beacon two days a week before merging its resources, carrying on its mission to capture the essence of life in Paris and expanding to cover Edgar County as a whole.
Ironically, change is one of the few constants in life, as it has been in the life of Paris’ many newspapers. Today, The Prairie Press is happy to celebrate a positive change, and one we hope readers will appreciate.
One thing that won’t change, however, is a commitment to truthful, transparent journalism, and what that 1898 edition of The Paris Beacon described as “tireless energy and mastery of detail.”
For more information regarding the exciting new changes at The Prairie Press, or to submit something for publication, contact us at info@prairiepress.net.
Publisher’s note: Thank you to our readers, advertisers and supporters throughout Edgar County for your continued trust as your local news source. Our staff is excited to start a new chapter this week, and we hope you enjoy the new look of The Prairie Press as much as we do. While plenty of planning and forethought has gone into the changes listed above, we understand there may be some bumps in the road as we change the way we distribute the paper. If you see any issues in your copy of The Prairie Press, or if you’re a subscriber and didn’t receive your copy of the paper in a timely fashion, please contact us at 217-921-3216 or send us an email at info@prairiepress.net. We are more than happy to assist you.
