Times Publishing Company
Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Ed Howard, a pioneer area publisher, acquired a local newspaper in 1898. His "Weekly Times" became a daily afternoon paper in 1907, soon after several leading Wichita Falls businessmen established the Times Publishing Company to provide financial support for the operation. That same year Howard was joined in the business by Ben D. Donnell, a newspaperman from Indiana, who served first as city editor. Under their direction the paper became a leader in the promotion of Wichita Falls civic activities and commerce. News stories recorded the development of the city and the railroad, local oil discoveries, and the growth of the area cattle industry. Howard also served as city postmaster, 1916-1924, and as a University of Texas regent. Following his death in 1948, his son Rhea became the publisher. A leader in the state Democratic party, Rhea Howard served as an informal advisor to three presidents. The Times Publishing of the Wichita Falls "Record News", a morning paper. Throughout the years of operation, members of the Howard and Donnell families have provided leadership for the firm. (1980)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Ed Howard acquired a Wichita Falls newspaper in 1898, the North Texas town was on the cusp of a boom that railroads, cattle, and the discovery of oil would soon fuel. His weekly grew into a daily afternoon paper in 1907, backed by local businessmen who formed the Times Publishing Company, and the paper chronicled the young city's rise. Under Howard, his son Rhea, and the Donnell family, the firm also came to publish the morning Record News and became a fixture of civic life for generations.
Why it matters
Local newspapers like this one were the connective tissue of booming Western towns, recording and often promoting the growth that turned raw settlements into cities.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
At the end of the nineteenth century, Wichita Falls was a young town on the rolling prairie of North Texas near the Red River. The railroad had arrived in the 1880s and connected the area to wider markets. Cattle ranching dominated the surrounding country, and farming was spreading.
Then came oil. In the early decades of the twentieth century, discoveries in the surrounding region, including the famous boomtowns of the 1910s, set off a rush of people, money, and construction. Wichita Falls grew fast and became a regional center for business and finance.
In towns like this, the local newspaper was essential. It carried the news, but it also promoted the town. Editors and publishers saw themselves as boosters, and they worked to persuade investors, settlers, and railroads that their city was the place to be.
The Times Publishing Company grew up in this environment. It covered the town's transformation from a cattle-country settlement into a modern city, and it helped drive that transformation.
People & events
The story begins in 1898, when Ed Howard, a pioneer publisher in the area, bought a local newspaper. His Weekly Times served a small but ambitious town. In 1907 it became a daily afternoon paper. Around the same time, a group of leading Wichita Falls businessmen formed the Times Publishing Company to put the operation on firm financial footing.
That same year Ben D. Donnell, a newspaperman from Indiana, joined Howard and started as city editor. The two men made the paper a strong promoter of Wichita Falls commerce and civic life. Its pages recorded the city's growth, the arrival and expansion of the railroad, the oil discoveries that transformed the region, and the continuing importance of cattle.
Howard's influence reached beyond the newsroom. He served as the city's postmaster from 1916 to 1924 and as a regent of the University of Texas. When he died in 1948, his son Rhea took over as publisher. Rhea Howard became a leader in the state Democratic Party and served as an informal advisor to three presidents.
Over time the company also came to publish the morning Wichita Falls Record News. Through the decades, members of both the Howard and Donnell families helped lead the firm, so it remained a family enterprise for generations.
Its place in the American story
Across the American West, local newspapers were an important part of the machinery of town building. A booming town needed a voice to record its progress and to sell its future to the rest of the country. Publishers like Ed Howard played both roles, as chroniclers and as civic promoters.
The Times also shows how Texas oil changed the state's economy and politics. The news its pages carried, from railroad lines to oil strikes to cattle markets, followed the same forces that were making Texas an economic power in the twentieth century.
The Howards' careers show how local publishing could lead to wider influence. A small-town paper's publisher could become a university regent, a party leader, and an advisor to presidents. For much of American history, newspapers were a direct route from Main Street to state and national power.
The company's long run as a family business also reflects an era of locally owned newspapers. Many communities have since lost that kind of ownership, which makes the story worth remembering.
If you visit
This marker tells a story about words and ideas more than a particular building, so it helps to imagine the city around you. Picture Wichita Falls as a young town on the prairie, with rail lines arriving, oil money pouring in, and a newspaper office documenting it all day by day.
Walk downtown and look for early twentieth-century commercial buildings. Many of them were built in the boom years the Times covered. Their size and style give you a feel for the confidence of a city that believed it was heading somewhere.
If you're interested in newspapers, the marker is a good reminder that local archives often hold years of old issues, which are a remarkable record of daily life. Libraries in the area may be able to help you explore them.
Wichita Falls is a natural stop on a North Texas road trip, and it pairs well with the oil-boom history of the surrounding towns and the Red River country just to the north.
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
- · Ed Howard
- · Ben D. Donnell
- · Rhea Howard
Themes & tags
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