Abilene Reporter-News
Abilene, Taylor County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The oldest existing business institution in Abilene is the Reporter Publishing Company, started by C. E. Gilbert. The first newspaper was printed on June 17, 1881, three months after the town was founded. Soon after Gilbert began publication, a fire destroyed several buildings in town, including his office. He rode the train to Baird (21 miles east) and, using borrowed presses, published an "extra" edition about the blaze. Two other Abilene papers were started in the 1880s. Part-time preacher W. L. Gibbs began the "Magnetic Quill" in 1882. Three years later Gilbert's printer, James L. Lowry, began the "Taylor County News." One of Lowry's early editions covered a duel between Gilbert and Gibbs, both of whom survived. Later "Reporter" owners were Dr. Alf H. H. Toler, John Hoeny, Jr., George S. Anderson, and Marshall Bernard Hanks, a former delivery boy for the paper who was publisher from 1906 to 1948. In 1911 the "Reporter" bought the "News," resulting in the present name. Hanks and Houston Harte of San Angelo formed the Harte-Hanks organization, now a national communications firm, which includes the "Reporter-News," whose motto is: "Without or with offense to friends or foes we sketch your world exactly as it goes." -Byron.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Abilene's oldest business institution began just three months after the town was founded, when C. E. Gilbert printed its first newspaper on June 17, 1881. When fire soon destroyed his office, Gilbert rode the train to Baird, borrowed a press, and rushed out an 'extra' about the blaze—one of many colorful episodes, including a duel between rival editors that both survived. Through mergers the paper became the Reporter-News, and publisher Marshall Hanks later joined Houston Harte to form the national Harte-Hanks communications firm.
Why it matters
The paper's story shows how a frontier town's press both chronicled and helped build a community, seeding what grew into a nationwide media company.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Abilene was born with the railroad. In 1881 the Texas and Pacific Railway was pushing west across Texas, and new towns sprang up along its route almost overnight. Cattlemen and merchants bet that a spot on the line would pay off, and Abilene was one of those bets. The town was founded in March 1881.
In the Gilded Age, a newspaper was one of the first things a new town wanted. It announced that a place was real and permanent. It advertised land, carried news of the railroad and the markets, and argued loudly about local politics. A frontier town without a paper felt barely finished.
That is why a newspaper appearing only three months after the town's founding is so telling. Abilene's settlers were not waiting to grow up before they started talking to each other in print.
People & events
C. E. Gilbert printed Abilene's first newspaper on June 17, 1881. Soon afterward, fire swept through several buildings in the young town and destroyed his office. Gilbert did not wait to rebuild. He took the train about 21 miles east to Baird, borrowed presses there, and put out an 'extra' about the fire. It is hard to imagine a better story of frontier newspapering.
Competition came fast. W. L. Gibbs, a part-time preacher, launched the 'Magnetic Quill' in 1882. In 1885 Gilbert's own printer, James L. Lowry, started the 'Taylor County News.' Rivalries between editors could get personal, and one of Lowry's early issues reported on a duel between Gilbert and Gibbs. By the marker's account, both men survived.
The 'Reporter' then passed through several owners, including Dr. Alf H. H. Toler, John Hoeny Jr., and George S. Anderson. Its longest chapter belonged to Marshall Bernard Hanks, who began as a delivery boy for the paper and served as its publisher from 1906 to 1948. In 1911 the 'Reporter' bought the 'News,' and the merged title became the Reporter-News.
Hanks later teamed up with Houston Harte of San Angelo to form Harte-Hanks, which grew into a national communications company. The paper's motto, a couplet credited to Byron, promises to sketch the world 'exactly as it goes,' whether that pleases friends or offends foes.
Its place in the American story
This paper's story is the story of American local journalism in miniature. A single printer on a railroad frontier gives way to rival sheets and hot-tempered editors, then to consolidation, and finally to a regional and national media company. The same pattern played out in towns across the country.
The Reporter-News also shows how local papers anchored their communities. For generations a hometown paper recorded births, deaths, elections, fires, and harvests. Much of what historians know about small-town America comes from pages like these.
Harte-Hanks's rise from two West Texas newspapermen is a reminder of how much twentieth-century American media was built from the ground up, one local paper at a time, before it became big business.
If you visit
When you stand at this marker, think about how new everything around it once was. Rails had barely been laid, buildings were going up in raw lumber, and a printer ran a newspaper with hand-set type. Abilene's later growth grew out of that hurried start.
The Baird episode is worth keeping in mind as you travel. Baird lies east of Abilene along the same railroad corridor, and driving between the two gives you a sense of the ride Gilbert took with his fire story.
Abilene makes a comfortable base for exploring West Texas history. Pair this stop with the city's downtown and railroad heritage for a day that shows how a frontier depot town became a regional center.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · C. E. Gilbert
- · Marshall Bernard Hanks
- · Houston Harte
Themes & tags
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