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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper The Lake County Star (Chase, Mich.) 1873-Current

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About The Lake County Star (Chase, Mich.) 1873-Current

Throughout the 19th century, lumber served as the basis for the local economy of Lake County, Michigan. Later, agriculture and seasonal tourism, particularly summer resort communities and trout fishing in the county’s many streams, became important economic activities. The Idlewild Resort Company was a seasonal community of particular note. Founded in 1912, it was one of the few lakefront resorts which welcomed African Americans prior to the 1960s. With approximately 2,000 cottages, Idlewild was one of the largest African-American resorts of its day.

The Lake County Star was the first paper printed in the county. It began publication on May 1, 1873, in the town of Chase, which had been settled in 1867 and was then the county seat. Charles Kelly Radcliffe, under the corporate name of Radcliffe & Co., founded the newspaper.

In its first issue, the Lake County Star declared itself to be Republican, “no independent or neutral humbug for us.” However, the Star also saw itself as a community resource. In the same first issue, the editor stated that the paper’s political orientation “will not prevent us from doing full justice to those of a different political opinion than ourselves.” The paper downplayed its political association even more when it wrote, “In the absence of political campaign issues, however, we do not propose to continually harp on political topics; but remain of the opinion that people of both parties would rather read something else as soon as the election is over.”

In late 1873 or early 1874, Radcliffe relocated the Star to Baldwin, the current seat of Lake County, where the paper remains in operation today. The Lake County Star passed through several owners and editors, but the most long-served was Herbert Davis, who purchased the newspaper in 1903 and managed it until his death in 1950.

Provided By: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Lake County Star (Chase, Mich.) 1873-Current

Dates of Publication

  • 1873-current

Created / Published

  • Chase, Mich. : Radcliff & Co.

Headings

  • -  Baldwin (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Chase (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Lake County (Mich.)--Newspapers
  • -  Michigan--Baldwin
  • -  Michigan--Chase
  • -  Michigan--Lake County
  • -  United States--Michigan--Lake--Baldwin

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began with May 10, 1873 issue?
  • -  -v. 119, no. 19 (Jan. 24, 1991) ; Jan. 31, 1991-
  • -  Published in Baldwin, <1874>-
  • -  Editors: Charles K. Radcliff, William A. Deuress, <1876>.
  • -  "Republican," <1876>.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 20 (Sept. 11, 1873).

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85026421

OCLC Number

  • 12219612

ISSN Number

  • 2472-0178

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Lake County Star Chase, Mich. -Current. (Baldwin, MI), Jan. 1 1873. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85026421/.

APA citation style:

(1873, January 1) The Lake County Star Chase, Mich. -Current. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85026421/.

MLA citation style:

The Lake County Star Chase, Mich. -Current. (Baldwin, MI) 1 Jan. 1873. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85026421/.