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Lake Maxinkuckee Its Intrigue
History & Genealogy Culver, Marshall, Indiana
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Marmont Harold, Culver City Herald & Culver CitizenLocations: West Main Street between Jefferson and Madison Streets (1894– ); 200 East Washington Street (1922, 1953); 105 S. Main St. Culver (1967-?);601– 603 Roosevelt Road, Walkerton (1972); P.O. Box 90, Culver (1973); 107 South Main Street Culver (1993); 118 N. Main St. Culver (200_-2007) George R. Nearpass came to Marmont from Bremen and according to "One Township's Yesterdays," Nearpass was looking for opportunities in Argos when he heard that Marmont might be able to support a newspaper. He took the Nickel Plate Railroad to Hibbard, then walked to Marmont, where he convinced John Osborn, Sam Medbourn, E. B. Van Schoiack and many others to bankroll the venture. They raised the money and he moved his press to an old photograph gallery.The Herald/Citizen has been a part of the Culver community for more than half its life; at its best it was a leader in the town's affairs and even at its worst it held us together by providing something for us to complain about. What more could we ask? - John Houghton The first issue of the Marmont Herald hit the streets of the small town that was to eventually be renamed Culver— population 374 — in May 1894, the first issue is dated 13 July 1894 Vol. 1 No. 1.; George E. Nearpass was editor and publisher. For such a small town Marmont had, comparatively speaking, a large paper. It was published on Friday's and was twenty inches tall, thirteen inches wide, had five full columns, ran eight pages long, and cost $1.00 for a years subscription. George E. Nearpass turned out each edition on a Washington hand press, with all type set by hand from three cases of type. The balance of the equipment was a foot-pummped job press of an ancient vintage and a printer's stone; in a small, one-story frame building located on the west side of Main Street between Jefferson and Madison Streets. This building was an old photograph gallery. John Osborn who had financed Nearpass had the building moved to South Main Street just south of the store owned by Mitchell & Stabenow. It stood broadside of the street, as it was built accordingly to accommodate the photograph gallery. Publication day was an occasion of much excitement and activity for all power was furnished by hand. Sumner Wiseman would feed the sheets of paper into the press, Ed Gandy would roll the ink onto the forms after each sheet had been printed. George E. Nearpass, III, then a boy, would take the papers off the press with Harry Medbourn as his helper. Tim Wolfe and many others helped fold the sheets by hand and do the mailing. The accounting of the Nearpass year's are found in Corwin's One Township Yeasterdays: On the 13th of July, 1894, appeared the first issue, Vol. I, No. 1, of the "Marmont Herald," George Nearpass, editor and publisher. Nearpass did not associate the paper with any particular political party, and in fact politics rarely influenced the paper’s content. In 1895/1896 Nearpass changed the name of the publication to the Culver City Herald after the town’s name was changed to Culver City. Copy boys were George nearpas III and Harry Medbourn. Subscription rates were one dollar per year. Nearpass often reminded those who had not yet paid for their subscriptiosn that he could use a load of firewood or a sack of potatoes in lieu of the money. Nearpass was born on a Michigan farm to a Methodist preacher. He ran away at age nine, finding his way to Chicago where he became a newsboy and a boot black. Within four years he had gained a position as a printer’s devil on the Chicago Times. At age eighteen he became a stagehand and later an actor. A fencing accident in one of the performances left him without a left eye, forcing him to forego acting. He immediately went to Vermontville, Michigan, and started a paper, which he quickly sold. Throughout his life he continued a pattern of moving to a town, founding a newspaper, and then selling it only to move to yet another city and open another journal. Before moving to Marmont he had developed weeklies in five other cities, including the Hobart Gazette. This is the ad for the Marmont Hearld in the Maxinkuckee Agriculture Fair Book of 1895: ![]() The business under Nearpass was a family affair, as his son, George III, George Nearpass III and his daughter, Myrtle, helped their father run the presses. In 1898 they published the Souvenir booklet of the Lakeand area: ![]() The "Culver City Herald" (1897-1900) had five columns and a 20-21-inch depth After selling the venture to Koontz, Nearpass moved to Shipshewana, where he established the Sun. Nearpass retained control of the weekly for some time, selling to John Henry Koontz in 1903. This quip is found about Nearpass and the Sun: George Nearpass, the founder of Culver's first paper, the Herald, has sold the Shipshewana Sun and has gone to Croton, Ohio, where he has started the Croton Citizen. In May 1903 Koontz changed the name of the paper to the Culver Citizen By 1905 Koontz could claim to have two thousand readers from around the county. Koontz was active in the life of the town, serving on its first town board and participating in several local lodges. It started in 1903 with eight pages, and later dropped to four pages. The issue of 7 May 1903 was the first issue under the editor ship of Koontz and his remarks where:
Culver has a new newspaper, The Citizen, and the first number is a fine piece of journalism. It is published by J. H. Kootz & Son, and its artistic and newsy features entitles it to a very liberal patronage. Rochester Sentinel, Tuesday, May 12, 1903 As time wore on, Marmont's newspaper and printery grew little by little until at length the expansion thereof demanded larger quarters. The thin building on Main Street became too thin, and a fatter building was sought. Finally, the narrow building was left behind, and the newspaper establishment occupied fairly broad quarters in a. building on East Washington Street. It is there now, in doubly broad quarters, for it occupies the whole first floor. One reads that the rooms above the Citizen office were rented. That was May 5, 1904. But, five rooms over the printing office were for rent, December 28, 1905. (Today the big press--a new and bigger one--is 'way down in the basement.) Ar first the Citizen occupied only one-half of this building, but later expanded until all of the first floor and the basement were needed to house additional equipment. Under Nearpass and Koontz the journal was issued every Friday and contained a good deal of national and international news. A “Home Gossip” page chronicled the activities of visitors to the small town, told who was moving out of town or into the community, or what new job a person might accept, as well as who came over for Sunday dinner. Nearpass constantly asked people to pay their delinquent subscriptions, sometimes in a column on page one. Koontz called his local summary of national and international news “From the Four Quarters of the Earth.” ![]() John Henry Koontz From The History of Marshall County (1908) by Daniel McDonald pg. 303: Culver City Herald. The first regular issue of a newspaper in Culver appeared in 1884, under the ownership of George Nearpass, who was also the editor and general manager. It was called the Culver City Herald. Mr. Nearpass continued its publication until May, 1903, when the plant was purchased by J. H. Koontz & Son, who changed the name of the paper to The Culver Citizen. In April, 1905, Arthur B. Holt, of Kankakee, Illinois, one of the publishers of the Daily and Semi-Weekly Gazette, bought the property, and is now conducting the paper on its former lines as a local, non-partisan weekly.John Henry Koontz passed ownership on 1 April 1906 to Arthur B. Holt who became the publisher, remaining the proprietor until selling the journal in 1923. Holt was a native of Kankakee, Illinois, and had been one of the publishers of the daily and semi weekly Gazette in that community. The Culver Citizen has been sold by Koontz & Son to Arthur B. Holt, formerly of Kankakee, Ill. Mr. Holt is an experienced newspaper man, and we welcome him to our midst. Rochester Sentinel, Friday, April 13, 1906 He retained the paper’s nonpartisan character. Under Holt “Personal Pointers” replaced the “Home Gossip” column, but retained its interest in personal happenings. Mr. HOLT remained as editor through the years that saw Culver grow from a village to a town and the paper progressed accordingly. He had a distinct flare for writing with a personal touch that made his paper outstanding. He left the writing of high-powered editorials to the metropolitan papers, while he sought out the small, homely items that concerned the everyday life of his readers. His dry humor persistently cropped out in unexpected places. Holt also added a column on the activities at Culver Military Academy and a section entitled “The Week in Culver,” which concerned information on who had taken ill as well as who was moving into or out of town. He shortened the paper to four pages, but expanded the column space from five to six. His long reign in the editor's chair formed an important chapter in the local history of journalism The "Citizen" was a 6-column paper until 1913, and 21-22-inch depth until a 16-page paper. It was changed January 11, 1922, to a 7-column paper, with four pages.. On 1 July 1923 the paper was sold to Miles R. Robinson and F. C. Leitnaker. Robinson and Leitnaker had been roommates at a college in Kansas, and they were both World War I veterans. They had had experience an newspapers under the direction of others, but this was their first attempt at producing a paper with full control. Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, July 7, 1923 They immediately changed the paper back to an eight-page weekly, increased the price of a subscription from $1.00 per year to $1.50, and added more organization to the journal’s structure. Pictures and serials, along with excerpts from popular books, were added in the 1920s, and a society and local news page was added during their tenure. Visits, weddings, and other personal happenings continued to run in the paper, but they were not as extensive as before. The Citizen enlarged under their energetic management and became a leader in community activities. ![]() Miles R. Robinson Miles R. Robinson purchased Leitnaker’s share in the business in 1926, continuing as the sole proprietor until March 1949, thus began this he ownership for twenty-three years. News-Sentinel, Friday, February 24, 1933 In the 1930s the paper remained an eight-page weekly. A large cartoon with political overtones or social commentary appeared on page one. The society and local news column continued to reveal who was about to get married and other personal information. As the town grew, the personal notices that appeared in these columns helped the community to remain intimate. A new column concerning Culver High School related the planned activities and reports of recent adventures and sports news to readers. The “Citizen Bazaar” was an early classified's section. By the mid-1940s the paper had grown to twelve pages, but column space had shrunk to five columns from seven earlier in the 1930s. Finally under his tenure the paper became a 16-page tabloid with seven 22-inch columns on the page and had won state and national prizes for reporting and editorials. Another sayas that: The present "Citizen" was changed to a 16-page tabloid, October 18, 1933, from eight 22-inch pages, seven columns to the page, each column 20 inches in length. This was quite a daring change, but it marked a definite step forward, in keeping with the times. The "Citizen" was a pioneer among small-town weeklies in this sort of venture. Time has proven its success. Miles R. Robinson and some point in the history of the Argos Reflector which was established in 1881 was either owner and publisher. As evidence by the articles below: In late 1945 or early 1946 the M. R. Robinson built new quarters for the Culver Citizen at 200 East Washington street, the building was erected by the James I Barnes Construction Company under the supervisdon of Russell I. Barnes, manage. The electrical lighting was engineered by James E. Tally. The building is 60 by 90 feet with streets on three sides. The prodigious and nerve-racking job of moving starting May 8, 1946, with completion four days later. ![]() Miles R. Robinson sold the Citizen to Major Charles Maull, Jr. [now colonel] who owned the paper into the early 1950s. Maull employed Robert Rust as editor in 1949. In. May 1950, Robert Rust with his wife Bertha May leased the paper from Maull and served as editor and publisher. Robert and Bertha May Rust also became the editor-publisher of the Argos Reflector in 1951, it in 1953. Robert Rust was a native of Columbus, Bartholomew, Indiana and began his career as a teacher of history and journalism at Culver High School in 1931 till 1939. At that time he became public relations director, supervisor, publication editor alumnus, Culver Military Academy. In 1953 the Rusts' established their own public relations business serving area public relations and advertising accounts, 1970-1981. Besides returning to his former post at the Academy from September 1953-1958, then was principal of West township Schools 1958-1964, Assistant Superintendent of Plymouth Community Schools 1964-1966, and Superintendent of Culver Community Schools 1966-1971. Charles Maull Jr. sold the Culver Citizen Press, a commercial printing firm and publisher of the weekly newspaper, Culver Citizen. to Chester W. "Chet" Cleveland, first issue was 17 Jun 2953 and who presided over its pages until his death in 1961. The firm's name was soon changed to the Culver Press, Incorporated, to better reflect its dependence on commercial printing. ![]() In 1957 Charles W. Cleveland founded Indiana Business Magazine. ![]() Chester W. "Chet" Cleveland Under Cleveland the journal regularly numbered sixteen pages and was published every Wednesday. The paper's purpose was to serve "the interests of nearly 20 communities in Marshall, Starke, Fulton, and Pulaski Counties". Cleveland changed the name of the “Citizen Bazaar” to the “Classified's.; Personal news continued to dominate the paper, and whole columns were devoted to personal happenings from towns across the four counties mentioned previously. As in every decade, advertising space reflected the passions of the time. In one issue in 1953 almost an entire page was devoted to current movies and where one could watch a show. In 1955 John A. Cleveland, moved to Culver, Marshall, Indiana to assist his father in the operation of the Culver Press, Inc. ![]() John A. Cleveland The Cleveland's Culver Press Inc. published the paper until it became a part of the Indiana Press of Plymouth, Marshall, Indiana in 1967. After Cleveland died in 1961, his son, John A. became president of Culver Press, Inc. and publisher of Indiana Business Magazine. In 1967 the weekly Culver Citizen was sold and the Culver Press, Inc. was relocated in Plymouth, Marshall, Indiana in the new industrial plant as Indiana Press, Inc. The last issue - listed the employees of the Culver Citzien and prices: ![]() Exactly 41 years to the day that Miles R. Robinson acquired the paper it was sold to the Independent News Company of Walkerton, St. Joseph, Indiana, which controlled the paper for six years. ![]() ![]() Robert Urbin The Citizen offices were to relocate to 105 S. Main Street Culver. The the late 1960s and 1970s proved a tumultuous time both in America and in the history of the ownership of the Citizen and the look of the Citizen changed slightly. The length of the paper varied. In the late 1960s the paper numbered ten pages, but by the early 1970s it had been cut by two pages. And the days it was published were changed with the different ownerships. The Culver Citizen was sold to Walter L. Thompson, who held onto the paper for only six months before Robert D. Hansen acquired it. Hansen continued as proprietor for three years before selling it. In August 1973 the Culver Citizen Corporation adopted the block format, in which stories are in paragraph style rather than running the length of the page in a single column. While the Independent News Company ran the journal, personal notices, other than weddings a and obituaries, were not published. In 1973 the “Locals” column reappeared, only to disappear again before the paper ceased publication. It was sold in 1974 to the Wabash Plain Dealer Company In May of 1974. ![]() Thomas "Tom" Zoss Thomas W. Zoss "Tom" and wife Bernadette Zoss assumed control and the Culver Citizen got a new lease on life. They acquired new computerized equipment, increased circulation, added a clean new image, new features of which one was "Lakewater" or "It must be Lake Water" by Robert "Bob" Kyle [who had been a newswriter for the Indianapolis Star. John Houghton wrote a column "I Remember". . The Nixon Newspaper Inc. maintained the high quality of the Culver Citizen until the temporary end. A brief history of the Nixon Newspaper Inc.: A listing and micro film copies are found at the Indiana State Library web site as follows:
CULVER Citizen 1903 - 1920 May 1903 to Nov 1920 CULVER Citizen 1922 - 1969 Mar 1922 to 1969 CULVER Citizen 1972 - 1974 1972 to Dec. 18, 1974 ![]() Mike Clifton Mike Clifton was editor and as of 13 October 1976 Jeri Jayne was editor and the newsstand issue price was twenty cents. ![]() Jerri Jayne The Wednesday, 29 December 1976 issue of the Culver Citizen was to be the last, as the publishers announced the demise of the paper after 82 years of publication. The Culver news for the next two years was carried by the weekly TV Plus, sister publication. ![]() Arlene J. Nix In Novemeber of 1977 The Tribune-News Company of South Whitley, Indiana contacted the previous owners about the possiblity of purchashing the rights tot he paper and the subscription list to the defunct weekly Culver Citizen, an agrrement was reached and in January 1978 Arlene Nix who had been with the paper previously secured office space at Hansens Resturant and Sport Shop on Lakeshore Drive. The Culver Citizen Office opened officially on february 28th On 2 March 1978 the Culver Citizen resumed publication under the ownership of the Tribune-News Company. Arlene Nix became the editor. Cost of a news stand issue was fifteen cents! J. David Tranter was the new owner and publisher and revived the operation. ![]() David J. Tranter He also published the Argos newspaper as found in the History of Marshall County 1ndiana Sescquicentennial 1836-1986 (1986} pg. 9: Argos has been without a local newspaper since December 29, 1983 when the Agros Tribune ceased publication because of low circulation. A succussor to the Argos Reflector which was established in 1881, the Tribune was formed by J. David Tranter and its first issue appeared on August 18, 1997. In July of 1982, the paper had been purchased by William Mitchell who had made the decision to cease the publication.and shared news stories of the two communities in each paper. J. David Tranter, revived the operation and continued to run the weekly for a decade. ![]() William "Bill" Mitchell By this time the Culver Citizen and moved to quarters on North Main Street. Tranter sold the renewed publication to William "Bill" Mitchell of Milford, Illinois, and he moved his family to Culver to take over publication of the Culver Citizen. During this time Bill Mitchel wrote a editorial colum called "Bill's Ballyhoo". Frederick and Judy Karst took ownership of the newspaper. They updated the look and style of the paper for the new decade to come. Fred Karst was publisher and Judy Karst was editor. They expanded their publication duties in the summer of 1991 to include the Marshall County Life, which proved to be short-lived. Below is a picture of probably the combined papers staff and probably reviewing the first issue of it. DUring the time perios Harvey Farari wrote an occasional column for the paper on a weekly basis. ![]() Pictured left to right are: (front row seated) [-?-], [-?- Boys], Fred Karst and Harry Mc Farland; (back row standing) [-?-], possibly Judy Campbell, [-?-], [-?-] and Judy Karst. The picture was probably taken at the Cizien office at 107 S. Main St. Culver. They won several awards in state and regional journalism for their reporting in the pages of the paper. In May 1998 the Karsts sold the Citizen to Community Newspapers, Inc., a holding company for several area newspapers, including the Plymouth Pilot and the Knox Leader. Maggie Nixon served as the paper's editor in 1998. It is a part of the Plymouth Pilot News owned by Horizon Publications Inc. Horizon Publications was formed in 1999 as a community newspaper company with the objective to acquire and operate community publications in the U.S. and Canada. The present editor of the Culver Citizen is Kelly Masson. The officials as of 4 January 2007 are: Rick Kreps, Publisher; Jerry L. Bingle, General Manager; Maggie Nixon, Managing Editor; Deanna L. Grenert, Citizen Editor; Ron Haramia, Sports Editor; Greg Hildebrand, Production/IT Manager; Cindy Stockton, Marketing Manager; and James Radican Circulation Manager. Today newsstand price is 50 cents per copy; and mail rates are $21 for Indiana and $26 for out-of-state. |
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