McCook Daily Gazette
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The ''McCook Daily Gazette'' is a newspaper published in the city of McCook, in the southwestern part of the state of
Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
, in the
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region of the United States. It serves southwestern Nebraska and northwestern
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
. The newspaper is issued five days a week, Monday through Friday afternoons. , it had a circulation of 4,564. The paper was founded in 1911 by Harry D. Strunk and Burris H. Stewart as the ''Red Willow Gazette''. Thirteen years later, under Strunk's editorship, it became a daily and changed its name to the ''McCook Daily Gazette''. In 1929, the newspaper became one of the first in the world to be delivered regularly by air: for several months its airplane, the ''Newsboy'', flew a daily route, dropping bundles of newspapers to carriers in outlying towns. An image of the ''Newsboy'' still decorates the paper's
nameplate A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Nameplates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone's written name. Nameplates primarily serve an informat ...
. Strunk published the ''Gazette'' until his death in 1960, when he was succeeded by his son Allen Strunk. In 1986, the paper was acquired by Gozia-Driver Media, which was later re-incorporated as US Media Group. In 1997, the ''Gazette'' was sold to
Rust Communications Rust Communications is an American privately owned media company based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The '' Southeast Missourian'' is its flagship publication. History In 1967, Gary W. Rust purchased the ''Weekly Bulletin'', a weekly newspaper i ...
.


History

The paper's founder, Harry D. Strunk, was born in 1892 in
Pawnee City, Nebraska Pawnee City is a city in and the county seat of Pawnee County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 878 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. History The site of present-day Pawnee City was designated as the county seat on Nov ...
. In 1906, at the age of 14, he was forced by family circumstances to quit school and go to work as a
printer's devil A printer's devil was a young apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type. Notable writers including Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Ambrose Bierce, Bret Harte, and Mar ...
(an apprentice) for the ''Pawnee City Republican''. A year later, he moved to
Fairbury, Nebraska Fairbury is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,942 at the 2010 census. Fairbury has been closely connected with railroading for much of its history. It was founded on the projected ...
, but at the age of 16, when the editor of the ''Republican'' fell ill, he returned to Pawnee City and published the newspaper for three months until the editor's recovery. Strunk continued to move from newspaper to newspaper; in 1909, at the age of 17, he was shop foreman of the
Norton, Kansas Norton is a city in and the county seat of Norton County, Kansas, Norton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,747. History Norton was founded in 1872. Like the county ...
''Daily Telegram'', overseeing ten typesetters. Later in 1909, Strunk set off for the West Coast. En route, he saw and responded to an advertisement seeking a printer for the weekly ''McCook Tribune''. Nine months later, he and fellow ''Tribune'' employee Burris H. Stewart started their own job-printing shop, "with so few assets that they were forced to borrow money to buy ink". Six months later, in 1911, the two launched their own newspaper: the semi-weekly ''Red Willow Gazette'', again with no assets and with heavy debts. Distressed by their financial situation, Stewart committed suicide on the day of the paper's second issue. Strunk persevered, and the paper proved successful. In 1914, it acquired a Linotype, the first between
Hastings, Nebraska Hastings is a List of cities in Nebraska, city in and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 25,152 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Neb ...
and
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; McCook became the smallest city in Nebraska to possess one. In 1924, the paper changed its name to the present ''McCook Daily Gazette'' and began daily publication; again, McCook became the smallest city in Nebraska with a daily newspaper. In 1926, the operation moved to a new building on Main Street, its facade inscribed with the paper's motto: "Service is the rent we pay for the space we occupy in this world."


The ''Newsboy''

In the 1920s, the spread of the automobile and the improvement of roads in the United States made it easier for rural residents to do their shopping in larger towns farther from their homes. This gave merchants an incentive to advertise in newspapers that reached such residents. However, delivering the papers in a timely fashion became a problem for the publishers. The
U.S. Mail The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal servi ...
was expensive, since postage rates for newspapers had been raised drastically by the
War Revenue Act of 1917 The United States War Revenue Act of 1917 greatly increased federal income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax ...
; it also took several days for the papers to reach some customers. In more developed parts of the country, publishers delivered papers by truck to local carriers in outlying towns. However, the improvement of roads in the McCook area was slower than in more densely populated areas. By 1929, U.S. Highway 38 (now U.S. Highway 6) had not yet been fully gravelled in southwestern Nebraska, and most roads off the main highways were impassable in bad weather. Strunk's solution was to go by air. In 1929, he paid $8,000 for a Curtiss Robin C1 two-seater monoplane, christened the ''Newsboy''. On September 13, 1929, air delivery began. The ''Newsboy'' flew a nonstop three-hour route covering , passing over more than 40 communities in southwestern Nebraska and northwestern Kansas. At each town, a bundle of papers was dropped from a height of onto a prearranged field, where it was picked up by local carriers. Papers were delivered as far west as
Benkelman, Nebraska Benkelman is a city in and the county seat of Dundy County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population was 821. History Benkelman was originally called Collinsville, in honor of Moses Collin ...
, from McCook; east to
Orleans, Nebraska Orleans is a village in Harlan County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 341 at the 2020 census. History Some of the first settlers around Orleans were forty men from eastern Nebraska who camped nearby in August 1870 and began staking ...
, away; and south to
Atwood, Kansas Atwood is a city in and the county seat of Rawlins County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,290. History In 1875, T.A. Andrews and J.M. Matheny traveled to Rawlins County and started a town si ...
, distant. Beside delivering papers to far-flung communities, the ''Newsboy'' served to promote the ''Gazette''. Interest in aviation was still strong after Charles Lindbergh's celebrated 1927 solo flight from New York to Paris. The newspaper offered a ride in the airplane to every two-year subscriber. It also opened a flying school: the pilot of the ''Newsboy'' would give flying lessons in the morning, then deliver the day's papers in the afternoon. To emphasize the newspaper's connection with aviation, a new
nameplate A nameplate identifies and displays a person or product's name. Nameplates are usually shaped as rectangles but are also seen in other shapes, sometimes taking on the shape of someone's written name. Nameplates primarily serve an informat ...
was introduced, with wings behind the name and airplanes on either side. Whether or not because of the airplane, the circulation of the ''Gazette'' increased from 2800 in 1928 to 4500 in 1930. Delivery by air lasted for less than a year. In May 1930, the ''Newsboy'' was damaged by high winds while parked at the McCook airport. Strunk opted not to repair it and return it to service, citing "week after week of inclement weather, during which time we have found it impossible to fly our route on schedule". The airplane was not yet built, he wrote, that could "fly successfully in rain, wind, sleet, snow and fog." A few major metropolitan newspapers had made short-term experiments with air delivery in 1928 and 1929. However, the months-long effort by the ''Gazette'' made it the first newspaper to conduct regular deliveries by air. After the ''Newsboy'' was taken out of service, it was sold and restored several times. In 1972, it was placed on display at the
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in
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.


1930–1960

The end of the aviation experiment forced the ''Gazette'' to return to ground-based delivery. Newspapers for outlying communities were transported there on commercial buses running through McCook; local carriers picked them up at their towns' bus stops. Same-day delivery was no longer possible for subscribers in communities off the main highways; they had to settle for next-day delivery. In 1934, the ''Gazette'' absorbed the ''South Side Sentinel'' of
Marion, Nebraska Marion is an unincorporated community in Red Willow County, Nebraska, United States, near the Kansas state line. History Marion was plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisio ...
. In 1936, it acquired the triweekly ''McCook Tribune'', at which Strunk had worked on his arrival in McCook. Later, in 1957, it absorbed the ''Red Willow County Reporter''. On the eve of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the ''Gazette'' acquired one of the last teletypesetters manufactured. With this machine, the paper could be produced with only two printers; this allowed it to remain in production at a time when Linotype operators were in short supply because of the war. The ''Gazette'' made a second attempt at air delivery in 1950. For four years, a
Cessna 120 The Cessna 120, 140, and 140A, are single-engine, two-seat, conventional landing gear (tailwheel), light general aviation aircraft that were first produced in 1946, immediately following the end of World War II. Production ended in 1951, and ...
was used to deliver papers to outlying communities. The high cost of operating the airplane, and the increasing availability of good roads for ground delivery, ended the venture. The plane was replaced by a fleet of small trucks and automobiles, all of which continued to bear the name ''Newsboy''. After the Republican River flood of 1935, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...
conducted a study of the river's watershed. Released in 1940, it concluded that there were no good dam sites upstream from
Republican City, Nebraska Republican City is a village in Harlan County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 150 at the 2010 census. The town is near the Harlan County Reservoir. At its peak in the 1950s the population was about 4 times larger than it is today. ...
, where the Harlan County Dam is now located. Since 112 deaths and the bulk of the property damage caused by the flood had occurred in the upper Republican valley, which includes McCook, the report led to dissatisfaction among residents of the area. Strunk and three others formed the Republican Valley Conservation Association, which lobbied aggressively for the development of a flood-control program for the entire basin; the ''Gazette'' provided office space to the organization. The RVCA's efforts led to the construction of a number of dams in the area: one on the Republican at
Trenton, Nebraska Trenton is a village in Hitchcock County, Nebraska, Hitchcock County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 516 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Hitchcock County. History Trenton was platted in 1885 ...
, and several on tributaries of the river in Nebraska and Kansas. One of the latter was built on Medicine Creek in
Frontier County, Nebraska Frontier County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 2,519. Its county seat is Stockville. In the Nebraska license plate system, Frontier County is represented by the prefix 60 (i ...
; the reservoir behind it has been named Harry Strunk Lake.


After 1960

Harry Strunk published the ''Gazette'' until his death in 1960, after which his son Allen Strunk succeeded him. Under Allen Strunk, the newspaper made the conversion from
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to
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printing. At the end of 1986, the Strunk family sold the newspaper to Gozia-Driver Media, which was later re-incorporated as US Media Group. Allen Strunk was succeeded as publisher by Dick Gozia and John Burgess, who occupied the position from 1987 to 1990, followed by Gene Morris, who became publisher in 1990. In 1997, the ''Gazette'' was acquired by
Rust Communications Rust Communications is an American privately owned media company based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The '' Southeast Missourian'' is its flagship publication. History In 1967, Gary W. Rust purchased the ''Weekly Bulletin'', a weekly newspaper i ...
. In 2002, it launched a weekly shopper, the "Big Nickel", inserted in the Friday newspaper and distributed free from racks throughout the newspaper's circulation area. Upon Gene Morris's retirement in 2007, general manager Shary Skiles was named publisher. In 2009, the newspaper ended Saturday publication, moving to a schedule of five issues a week, released on Monday through Friday afternoons. The circulation of the ''Gazette'' has declined in the 21st century. In 2001, the Nebraska Press Association listed it as 6,709. In 2005, a report by the
Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...
gave it as "approximately 5,903". In 2011, the Nebraska Press Association's website listed the number as 4,564.


Notes


References

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