The ''Curry Coastal Pilot'' is a weekly newspaper published in

Brookings Brookings may refer to: Organizations * Brookings Institution, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Places * Brookings, Oregon, USA * Brookings, South Dakota, USA * Brookings County, South Dakota, USA ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, United States, since 1946. It is published on Fridays by Country Media, Inc. and has a circulation of 5,223.

History

The paper originated as the ''Dayton Tribune'' of

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

around 1911 before relocating to Brookings decades later. The first ''Tribune'' editor was D. C. Eshmun. In the paper's first year of existence, Eshmun was beaten with an umbrella by Mrs. J. J. Jones after he penned an article implying the type of sewing machine her husband sold was low quality. Eshmun wrote a retraction. He then quit and was replaced Fred T. Mellinger. Mellinger was called up for the

Mexican Border War The Mexican Border War, also known as the Border Campaign, refers to a series of military engagements which took place between the United States military and several Mexican factions in the Mexican–American border region of North America duri ...

and bought the paper back in 1917 from H. D. Skinner. He then quit and left town in 1923. Local businessmen and the ''Telephone Register'' of McMinnville tried to keep the paper alive but it shuttered after a month. A year later A. N. Merrill of Bay City moved his ''Bay City Chronicle'' plant to Dayton and restarted the ''Tribune''. The paper was then purchased by Charles W. Van Wormer in 1927, E. B Stolle and C. M. Sutton in 1931, Byron Hughes in 1934, J. R. Todd in 1935 and Milo Taylor in 1938.'''' After 11 months Taylor sold the ''Tribune'' to John M. Biggs Jr. Ownership reverted back to Taylor after several months who then sold it again in 1940 to Dewy Akers. A few years later Akers discontinued the paper and relocated his printing plant to Brookings to launch the ''Brookings Harbor-Pilot'' on March 7, 1946. Akers was killed in a plane crash in 1952 and his widow sold the paper two years later to Joe Murphy and Bud Pisarek.The co-publishers became known by locals as "The Boys" and doubled the circulation within a few years. In 1958, Vern Shomshak bought the paper, and sold it in 1961 to John Jenkins, former advertising manager of the ''

Grants Pass Daily Courier The ''Grants Pass Daily Courier'' is an independent, family-owned daily newspaper published in Grants Pass, Oregon, United States. The ''Daily Courier'' covers Grants Pass and the surrounding area and is delivered throughout Josephine County, as ...

''. About a year later Jenkins sold the ''Harbor-Pilot'' to Richard W. and Polly W. Keusink. The couple owned the paper for 19 years, increased circulation from 2,000 to 7,000 and changed its name in July 1978 to the ''Curry Coastal Pilot.'' They sold it in 1981 to

Western Communications Western Communications, Inc. was an American newspaper publisher serving the states of Oregon and California from 1953 to 2019. The family-owned company was based in Bend, Oregon and was founded by Robert W. Chandler. Its flagship paper was '' Th ...

of Bend. The company went bankrupt and sold the paper to Country Media of Salem in July 2019.

References

External links

''Curry Coastal Pilot''
(official website)
Chronicling America
Library of Congress entry {{Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association 1946 establishments in Oregon Brookings, Oregon Curry County, Oregon Newspapers published in Oregon Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association Newspapers established in 1946