The Burnet Bulletin
Burnet, Burnet County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established in the early 1870s, this weekly newspaper has been in continuous operation for more than one hundred years. The first editor on record was George Whitaker, who served in that position until 1874. In 1898, the paper was sold to L. C. and J. H. Chamberlain, members of a pioneer Burnet County family. The "Bulletin" remained in the ownership of the Chamberlain family until 1960. The newspaper operation has survived numerous hardships over the years, including the destruction of its offices in a 1920 fire. The "Bulletin" has been housed here since 1979. Completed in 1872, this structure was used continuously as a general retail merchandising store until about 1900. Since that time it has served as a combination furniture store and mortuary and as telephone company offices. The second floor was used as a courtroom during the 1930s, while a new county courthouse was constructed. With historic ties to the early days of Burnet, both the "Bulletin" and this building are important reminders of the area's heritage. (1985)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established in the early 1870s, the Burnet Bulletin has published continuously for well over a century, its first recorded editor George Whitaker serving until 1874. Bought by the pioneer Chamberlain family in 1898 and held by them until 1960, the paper weathered hardships including a 1920 fire that destroyed its offices. Since 1979 it has operated from this 1872 building, itself a veteran of duty as store, mortuary, telephone office, and even a temporary 1930s courtroom.
Why it matters
The long-lived Bulletin and its much-reused building together preserve the working memory of a Hill Country county, showing how a local paper and a single storefront can anchor a community's identity across generations.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Burnet in the early 1870s was a young town on the eastern edge of the Texas Hill Country. It had grown up near an earlier frontier military post and was becoming a market town for the ranchers and farmers spread across the surrounding hills. The years after the Civil War brought new settlers, new trade, and the steady growth of small-town institutions.
The weekly newspaper was among the most important of those institutions. Across nineteenth-century America, nearly every county seat that hoped to amount to something had its own paper. It printed local news, legal notices, advertisements, and opinions, and it tied a scattered rural population together.
The building that now houses the Bulletin dates from the same era. Completed in 1872, it served the town as a general store, the kind of business that supplied a frontier community with everything from cloth to tools and that also served as a gathering place.
People & events
The Burnet Bulletin began in the early 1870s. The first editor on record was George Whitaker, who held the job until 1874. The marker's careful wording, "first editor on record," admits that the paper's earliest days are not fully documented, which is common for frontier newspapers.
In 1898 L. C. and J. H. Chamberlain, members of a pioneer Burnet County family, bought the paper. The Chamberlains kept it for more than sixty years, until 1960. For generations of local readers the Bulletin was a family-run paper rooted in the county it covered. It also survived real trouble, including a 1920 fire that destroyed its offices. Many small papers never came back from a loss like that.
The building has its own long résumé. After about three decades as a general store, it became a combination furniture store and mortuary, a pairing that was not unusual in small towns of the era. Later it held telephone company offices. In the 1930s its second floor even served as the county's courtroom while a new courthouse was built. In 1979 the Bulletin moved in, joining two long histories under one roof.
Its place in the American story
The small-town weekly was one of the foundations of American public life. Long before radio or television, papers like the Bulletin were how ordinary Americans learned about their neighbors, their local government, and the wider world. A paper that has published for more than a century holds a running record of its community found nowhere else.
This building tells a parallel American story of reuse. Store, mortuary, phone office, courtroom, newsroom: one sturdy 1870s structure took on whatever its town needed next. Small-town America has always been resourceful with its buildings, and this one is a fine example.
Together, the paper and the building show how local institutions survive fires, changes of owner, and changing times. Both are what the marker calls them: reminders of the area's heritage that are still in daily use.
If you visit
Take a good look at the building itself. It went up in 1872, and its stone-and-storefront character speaks to Burnet's early commercial days. Picture it lined with general-store goods, then furniture, then a temporary courtroom upstairs. Few buildings anywhere have done so many jobs.
If the Bulletin is working when you pass by, remember it is a working business, so be considerate of the people inside. The marker itself, from 1985, honors both the paper and the building.
Burnet is a fine base for exploring the Highland Lakes and the eastern Hill Country, especially in spring wildflower season. Stroll the historic square and nearby streets, and you'll find this building fits into a town that has kept much of its nineteenth-century character.
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
- · George Whitaker
Themes & tags
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