Plainview Daily Herald
Plainview, Hale County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Originally known as the "Hale County Hesperian," this newspaper was established in the late 1880s by D.B. Hill and John Davidson. In 1891 John Minor Shafer, an early Plainview area settler, became the owner and publisher. The newspaper remained a Shafer family operation until 1912. Its name then was changed from the "Hale County Herald" to the "Plainview Herald," and later to the "Plainview Daily Herald." Consolidation with the "Plainview News" in 1929 allowed for continued growth and expanded coverage. In 1978 the "Daily Herald" was purchased by the Hearst Corporation. (1984)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in the late 1880s as the Hale County Hesperian, this High Plains newspaper passed in 1891 to early settler John Minor Shafer and stayed a family operation for two decades. Renamings, a 1929 consolidation with the Plainview News, and eventual purchase by the Hearst Corporation in 1978 trace the paper's steady growth alongside the town it covered.
Why it matters
A community newspaper's century-long survival documents how the printed page knit together the far-flung settlements of the Texas Panhandle and carried their news into the modern media age.
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Related people
- · John Minor Shafer
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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