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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Spanish Fork Press (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-Current Press

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About The Spanish Fork Press (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-Current

The area of Spanish Fork, Utah, about sixty miles south of Salt Lake City, was settled in 1850 by Mormon farmers seeking to establish homesteads on the rich bottom land of the Spanish Fork River, which was named in honor of Spanish explorers who had followed the waterway through the Wasatch Mountains during their 1776 journey. By 1854, a dozen or so small farms had sprung up on the fertile soil of the river plain. One year later, the territorial legislature granted a charter of incorporation for Spanish Fork, and the town was born. A sawmill was erected in 1858; the first schoolhouse was built in 1862; and the Spanish Fork Foundry opened in 1884, producing iron and brass castings. Still, for the first 100 years of the town’s existence, farming remained Spanish Fork’s principal industry.

A handful of newspapers had come and gone in Spanish Fork before Andrew Jensen, an editor and publisher, launched the Spanish Fork Press in 1902. Its very first edition boasted both a “local and long distance printing office.” Jensen explained the short delay in the paper’s long-awaited arrival: “The Spanish Fork Press, as we have chosen to name this paper, should have made its first appearance two weeks ago, but on account of the delay of the new press, and other printing material, we were compelled to wait.”

The Spanish Fork Press managed to succeed where a number of its predecessors in town had failed. Jensen owned his own printing office, located right in the middle of town, as well as a hand-operated press, which helped to control costs. Furthermore, by carrying a variety of local news items, along with wire service reports on interesting events from around the world, Jensen garnered the support of an assortment of local businesses. Jensen bucked recent journalistic trends by making a profit with the Spanish Fork Press, which he published weekly, and he reaped advertising revenue from a wide variety of sources. A local dentist regularly bought front-page ad space, as did a florist, and a number of lawyers, bankers, and even dairy farmers. Their advertisements, with often lively language, were sprinkled among news items that no doubt captured the attention of rural readers. For instance, a front-page story on August 3, 1905, described a freak thunderstorm that killed five people at the Coney Island amusement park in New York. That same edition carried an update of the ongoing war between Russia and Japan, as well as a story about a deadly fever rampaging through New Orleans and a report about a Georgia preacher convicted in the murder of two small children.

The success of the Spanish Fork Press continues into the first decade of the 21st century, when it is still published every week by the largest newspaper in Utah County, the Daily Herald.

Provided By: University of Utah, Marriott Library

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Spanish Fork Press (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-Current

Other Title

  • Press

Dates of Publication

  • 1902-current

Created / Published

  • Spanish Fork, Utah : A. Jensen, 1902-

Headings

  • -  Spanish Fork (Utah)--Newspapers
  • -  Utah County (Utah)--Newspapers
  • -  Utah--Spanish Fork
  • -  Utah--Utah County
  • -  United States--Utah--Utah--Spanish Fork

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 23, 1902)-
  • -  Supplements accompany some issues.
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Vol. 86, no. 5 (Feb. 4, 1987).

Medium

  • volumes : illustrations

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85058245

OCLC Number

  • 12653543

ISSN Number

  • 0892-435x

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 Spanish Fork Press Spanish Fork, Utah -Current. (Spanish Fork, UT), Jan. 1 1902. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85058245/.

APA citation style:

(1902, January 1) The Spanish Fork Press Spanish Fork, Utah -Current. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85058245/.

MLA citation style:

The Spanish Fork Press Spanish Fork, Utah -Current. (Spanish Fork, UT) 1 Jan. 1902. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn85058245/.