The Morgan Messenger is a weekly newspaper published each Wednesday in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.[2] It has a circulation of about 4,400.[3]
History
The Morgan Messenger was founded in 1893 in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia as a Republican daily.[4] It succeeded the Morgan Mercury, a weekly founded by C. H. Hodgman.[5] Founded in 1885, the Mercury continued until much of its equipment was damaged in an October 1893 fire. Publishers Lewis Frey and Simeon S. Buzzerd bought the surviving equipment and business from D. Bratt Wright shortly after the fire, and changed the name to the Morgan Messenger.[6] Buzzerd would publish and edit the paper until his death in 1959.[7]
In 1934, Buzzerd bought its competitor the News, and continued it as a separate publication.[8] The News cited economic pressures for the sale to Buzzerd, and while the printing of the paper moved to the Messenger plant, its editorial continued to be a Democratic alternative to the Messenger.[8]
The paper has the distinction of being one of a small percentage of papers to have stayed in the control of a single family from the 19th century to the present. Until his death in 2016, it was owned by J. Warren Buzzerd, grandson of Simeon.[9] It is currently managed by Sandy Buzzerd, the daughter-in-law of J. Warren, and great-granddaughter-in-law of the founder.[10]
Resources
References
- ^ 2016 West Virginia Press Association Newspaper Directory (PDF). West Virginia Press Association. 2016.
- ^ "Newspapers Currently Received in the West Virginia Archives and History Library" (PDF). West Virginia Division of Culture and History. State of West Virginia. December 2016.
- ^ 2016 West Virginia Press Association Newspaper Directory (PDF). West Virginia Press Association. 2016.
- ^ "About Morgan messenger". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.
- ^ "About Morgan mercury". Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.
- ^ "Lewis J. Frey". Cumberland Evening Times. 5 November 1947.
- ^ "Pioneer Publisher Dies". Beckley Post-Herald The Raleigh Register. 31 May 1959.
- ^ a b "Old Morgan County Newspaper Is Sold". The Baltimore Sun. 2 April 1934.
- ^ "Long-time Newspaper Owner Buzzerd Dies". The Journal. 9 March 2016.
- ^ "Contact Us". Morgan Messenger. Retrieved 21 Jul 2018.