When Americans began to spread their seeds westward, each time they'd start to settle in a new area, there were a few things that had to be done pretty much right away, to ensure that the roots would take hold to make a village.
First and foremost, housing needed to be addressed, for all the residents, human and animal. Next, in most cases, came a church or two, and of course a saloon. Then, it was time to make sure they could continue to eat, by building farms, and mills, and mercantiles. Blacksmiths and tanners, and coopers, next.
Around this point, though, people start having a minute of free time in their days, and they started wondering and talking about current events (Although, in the 1800's any event in the last six months was considered “current”. A far cry from getting your news via Twitter, yes?) and then a village would look into getting a printing press and someone to run it.
This happened in Steuben county in 1848 with a very shortlived newspaper called the Indiana Review.
Angola's first paper (With the possible exception of a very short run periodical aimed at Spiritualists and “free thinkers”, called the Truth Seeker; sources don't seem to agree about whether it was actually in Angola or not. ) was the Steuben Republican. Originally started in May 1857, when J.M. Bromagen moved his printing press from Auburn to Angola, he sold it within a year and it changed hands quite a few times between 1858 until a good few years after the Civil War.
The Republican was just what it's title declared, a Republican leaning newspaper, and in 1876, Isaac L. Wiseman brought his press from Ohio to start the Angola Herald, gearing it toward the Democratic party (It seems, maybe, that politics aren't so different now, than they were, huh?).
There had also been a third paper, called the Steuben County Journal that merged with the Steuben Republican in 1884. This is about the time that the paper moved from somewhere on the south side of the square to where it is today, right on the corner next to the Masonic Temple and the Courthouse. The building itself still says “Steuben Republican”, even though it merged with the Herald, becoming the Herald-Republican in 1980.
Next time you're running errands, or shopping the Downtown, stop for a moment at 45 S. Public Square and look up at the Steuben Republican sign built into the facade of the building, and think about how much has stayed the same, in the midst of the changes of 100+ years.
(For quick reference, here're my sources for this post: History of Steuben County, etc, published by the Chicago Publishing Co. in 1885, the Herald Republican website, and random genealogical sketches of the many different men who decided printing was what they wanted to do in the 1800's. Oh, and a little bit of Wikipedia. And, of course, my heartfelt thanks to Kim Maxton Bordner and her amazing collection of local postcards. :) )
