The Albany News
Albany, Shackelford County, Texas
Marker Inscription
IN 1866, A UNION ARMY REGULAR, HARRY HALL (H.H.) McCONNELL (1837-1895), LEFT PENNSYLVANIA AND TRAVELED TO FORT BELKNAP NEAR JACKSBORO. A NATURAL JOURNALIST, HE WAS A TALENTED WRITER WITH AN INQUISITIVE MIND AND SENSE OF HUMOR. ALONG WITH HIS PARTNER, R. CHANDLER, McCONNELL BEGAN A NEWSPAPER IN JACKSBORO CALLED THE FRONTIER ECHO ON JUNE 30, 1875. LATER THAT YEAR, CAPTAIN GEORGE W. ROBSON (1837-1918), A UNION OFFICER FROM KANSAS, BOUGHT THE ECHO. IN 1878, ROBSON RELOCATED TO FT. GRIFFIN AND RENAMED THE NEWSPAPER THE FORT GRIFFIN ECHO, AND FROM 1883-1884, IT WAS NAMED THE ALBANY ECHO. ROBSON’S NEWSPAPER WAS A SUCCESS WITH MUCH TO SAY ABOUT CRIME, RELIGION, POLITICS, CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY AND PUBLIC MORALS. IN 1879, EDGAR RYE, A KENTUCKY MAN WHO BRIEFLY WORKED WITH ROBSON, BEGAN A NEWSPAPER CALLED THE ALBANY TOMAHAWK. FOR FOUR YEARS, ROBSON’S AND RYE’S NEWSPAPERS RIVALED EACH OTHER THROUGH PRINT. FINALLY, IN 1884, RYE PURCHASED THE ECHO, MERGED WITH THE ALBANY STAR TO FORM THE ALBANY NEWS (ALSO KNOWN AS THE ALBANY WEEKLY NEWS FROM 1891-1894). WITH THE TALENTS OF DON H. BIGGERS OF BRECKENRIDGE, RYE’S NEWSPAPER WAS LIVELY, UNUSUAL AND EXCELLENT FOR THE WEST TEXAS JOURNALISM WORLD OF THE 19TH CENTURY. THE 20TH CENTURY EDITORS, PAUL BAKER FROM 1908-1917, COL. DICK McCARTY FROM 1917-1944 AND JOHN McGAUGHEY FROM 1939-1971, GAVE THE NEWSPAPER MORE CREATIVITY AND STABILITY. MANY HISTORIANS REGULARLY USE THESE NOTEWORTHY NEWSPAPERS FOR HISTORICAL RESEARCH AND TO GAIN INSIGHT INTO WEST TEXAS HISTORY. THESE SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTORS GAVE FUTURE TEXANS KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF FRONTIER LIFE, PEOPLE AND EVENTS.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The newspaper known today as The Albany News traces a lively lineage of frontier journalism, beginning with a Union veteran's Frontier Echo founded at Jacksboro in 1875 and carried west to Fort Griffin and then Albany. Rival editors sparred in print through the 1880s until the Echo, Tomahawk, and Star merged into a single paper prized for its coverage of crime, politics, religion, and public morals. A succession of long-serving 20th-century editors gave it stability, and historians still mine its columns for insight into West Texas life.
Why it matters
These frontier papers are a first-draft record of West Texas settlement, preserving the everyday texture of law, faith, and politics on the late-19th-century Texas frontier.
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Related people
- · H. H. McConnell
- · George W. Robson
- · Edgar Rye
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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