Historical Society stores bound volumes of Delavan Enterprise, Republican
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
Southern Lakes Newspapers has put bound copies of the Delavan Enterprise and Delavan Republican on permanent loan with the Delavan Historical Society at 240 S. Seventh St.
The Historical Society took possession of the collection Oct. 30 and had them ready for display in mid-November.
Historical Society President Patti Marsicano said the hard-bound copies range from 1871 to 2003. No bound copies exist past 2003 when the company began to save past issues electronically.
“It is a treasure trove of historical information,” Southern Lakes Publishing Editor-in-Chief Edward Nadolski said. “It is the week-by-week history of Delavan.”
Nadolski said the impetus for the loan was that the Burlington Standard Press building where the papers were previously stored moved to a new smaller facility in Burlington and no longer had the storage space for the collection. He said the bound volumes were in the basement of the Standard Press building and inaccessible to the public. Nadolski said the company’s focus is on the current news industry and it doesn’t have the staff necessary to maintain the collection and make it available to the public.
“We put them in the hands of people who will treat them right and make them accessible to the community,” Nadolski said. “It is recorded history at your fingertips that we just couldn’t provide.”
Marsicano said the accessibility is important for anyone who wants to do research on anything related to Delavan. She said the Aram Public Library has just one microfilm machine and it is sometimes easier to work with the actual paper editions than it is to squint to read the information on a computer screen.
“Some people just prefer to get their hands dirty and have the touch and feel of the actual newspaper,” she said, showing off the dirty white gloves she had been using that started the day clean white.
Marsicano said researchers can combine the collection with the Historical Society’s other resources and the internet. She said just about every weekend someone has come in requesting to see the collection.
Nadolski said Southern Lakes Newspapers and the Historical Society entered into a material loan agreement similar to ones the company has with the City of Burlington and the Village of East Troy. He said like a museum exhibit, Southern Lakes Newspapers still owns the collection.
Nadolski said the agreement serves posterity and the business in that the business no longer has the space to store the collection, and the Historical Society can make use of a valuable resource.
“They are fascinating reads,” Nadolski said. “You can just lose yourself in them.”
Marsicano said the same thing. She said looking back at the two newspapers, which ultimately combined, helps people remember the little things. Everyone remembers the big things, but having resources like this available helps people remember people, places, events and businesses that might otherwise be forgotten. Marsicano said the two newspapers used to have social columns that recorded all the local events.
In her study of the two newspapers since they arrived at the Historical Society, Marsicano has noticed neither newspaper focused much on local news in the early years. The focus on the first several pages was national news, and the papers were larger with many columns and much more advertising because without radio or television all the advertising dollars were spent on newsprint.
That was also why the focus was on national news. A local newspaper was often the only source of news people had. Marsicano said the Enterprise first seemed to shift its focus to local news between 1910 and 1920 with the Republican following suit not long after.
Marsicano said she has also found the histories of the two newspapers to be fascinating, including a war of words that developed between them in the late 1800s.
According to research done by W. Gordon Yadon for a series of articles on the history of the Enterprise that was published in 2003, the Enterprise was established in 1878. Preceding it were the Walworth County Journal in 1852, the Wisconsin Messenger (later called the Delavan Messenger and the Delavan Northron in 1855), the Walworth County Sovereign in 1859, and the Delavan Patriot sometime between 1859 and 1863. None of those papers lasted very long except for the Northron. It became the Republican in 1862.
Yadon wrote that the movement to start a newspaper in Delavan was begun by Franklin K. Phoenix who offered a $500 bonus to any experienced editor to start a newspaper here in 1852. Delavan had been without its own local newspaper since being founded in 1836.
John C. Bunner, co-editor of the Racine Advocate, answered the call and the Walworth County Journal, a four-page paper with six columns per page and a subscription rate of $1 a year, was born.
In November 1862 the owner of the Northron, John W. Lawton, changed the name of the Northron to the Republican and purchased the Patriot, calling the new paper the Republican and Patriot for three years with the newspaper reverting back to the Republican title in 1865. The Republican as such lasted for 96 years.
In those early years of news reporting, local newspapers were very political. According to Yadon, the Republican was made up primarily of Democrat-bashing, pro-temperance, and anti-slavery writings with little or no local news during the Civil War era. Lawton had even opposed the formation of the Walworth County Sovereign in 1859 because it was a Democratic newspaper.
Yadon wrote that the Republican had several different editors after Lawton sold it. According to him, George B. Tallman was the most fearless and outspoken editor in Delavan newspaper history and was directly responsible for the establishment of the Enterprise.
Delavan was divided equally between conservative Baptist pro-temperance Republicans who were led by Tallman and Postmaster Martin Mulville and liberal Republicans and Democrats who did not support temperance led by local attorney D. Bennett Barnes. Tallman often took jabs at the Barnes group in the Republican leading to the Barnes-financed establishment of the Enterprise in 1878.
The Republican and Enterprise engaged in a war of words over the next two years that, according to Yadon, led to a physical assault, two libel suits and constant name-calling by both sides. In an incident describes as “mob rule” by the Republican, the Republican office was invaded by a “gang” loyal to the Enterprise that included Barnes on May 22, 1880. The gang made threats, disabled the printing press and removed all the type.
The feud ended when both editors moved on to other positions and their replacements had no interest in continuing the war. A truce was called and the two newspapers existed mainly in harmony for the next 78 years. In 1959 Albert and Joyce Petermann, publishers of the Enterprise, purchased the Republican and consolidated the two newspapers.
Stories like this are now available for the general public to enjoy. Marsicano said some challenges had to be overcome in displaying the collection. Two large bookshelves had to be purchased at auction to hold most of the editions. Several more are being stored in a back room until another bookshelf can be acquired.
Marsicano also said the books, which arrived at the Historical Society in seven postal carts, all had to be wiped down and evaluated. Some are in very good condition, but many are very fragile.
Marsicano said the public can access the collection during Historical Society hours – 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Monday – or by appointment by calling 740-7410.
