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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Weekly Herald (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888 Weekly herald and Tennessee journal / Cleveland herald / Issues for Oct. 27, 1876-Jan. 26, 1877 have title: Weekly herald and Tennessee journal / Issues for Jan. 18-<Nov. 29>, 1883; <Jan. 3-Sept. 4>, 1884; <Feb. 5-Dec. 24>,1885 have title: Cleveland herald

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About The Weekly Herald (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888

The Cleveland Weekly Herald’s roots reach back to the Commercial Republican, which was established in Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1872 and which was succeeded by the Cleveland Herald in 1874. The first edition of the Weekly Herald rolled off the press on July 14, 1876. The paper’s proprietors were T.A. Hayes and E.C. Tipton, with William S. Tipton and William O. Wiggins as editors. W.S. Tipton began his career as a newspaperman at the Herald when he was just 23 years old, and he served as publisher and editor until his death in 1904.

Through its various name changes, the Herald maintained a Republican perspective. The paper was a strong supporter of Rutherford B. Hayes in the 1876 presidential election, reflecting proprietor/editor W.S. Tipton’s own political preferences. Tipton was deeply involved in local politics. He was organizer of the Republican Party in Bradley County in 1870 and a member of its executive committee for several years. Tipton also served two terms as Cleveland’s mayor in the late 1870s and was a delegate to the Republican national convention which nominated James A. Garfield for president. The Herald’s solid Republican stance made for a staunch rivalry with the Democratic Cleveland Banner. Snide comments were often exchanged in the papers’ columns, usually highlighting the other’s journalistic incompetency.  The Herald noted, for example, that “[…] the Banner never has an original editorial of its own. One can always tell what will be in the Banner by reading the Nashville American or Chattanooga Times.”

As a reflection of the farming community it served, the Herald devoted large sections to agriculture and commodity markets. Lighthearted literature, poems, and humorous remarks (often by Tipton himself) were scattered throughout the pages. The “Local” column provided a mix of local news, announcements, and advertisements. Tipton used the paper to extensively promote his own businesses, often taking up whole columns to advertise his wholesale and retail products. The Herald’s job printing office was also heavily advertised. On October 2, 1879, the Herald introduced a bold new motto, “Independent in All Things, Responsible for Nothing,” apparently a twist on several papers’ “Independent in All Things, Neutral in Nothing.”

Under Tipton’s editorship, the Herald outlived its chief competitor, the Cleveland Banner, and survived the arrival of a new Democratic paper, the Polk County News, which relocated from Benton to Cleveland in 1885. Later that year, the two papers merged to form the News-Banner, which lasted only a few years until 1891. Tipton took enormous pride in his newspaper and in September 1888 boasted of the Herald’s rise from its humble beginnings printed on a “rented press with old worn-out type” to its all-new type and a handsome power press and “a circulation unequaled by any weekly in the state east of Nashville.” The weekly Cleveland Herald remained in circulation until May 1949.

Provided By: University of Tennessee

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Weekly Herald (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888

Other Title

  • Weekly herald and Tennessee journal
  • Cleveland herald
  • Issues for Oct. 27, 1876-Jan. 26, 1877 have title: Weekly herald and Tennessee journal
  • Issues for Jan. 18-, 1883; , 1884; ,1885 have title: Cleveland herald

Dates of Publication

  • 1876-1888

Created / Published

  • Cleveland, Tenn. : Hayes & Tipton, 1876-1888.

Headings

  • -  Cleveland (Tenn.)--Newspapers
  • -  Bradley County (Tenn.)--Newspapers
  • -  Tennessee--Bradley County
  • -  Tennessee--Cleveland
  • -  United States--Tennessee--Bradley--Cleveland

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (July 14, 1876)-v. 14, no. 38 (Sept. 22, 1888).
  • -  Publishers: Hayes & Tipton, 1876-1877; W.S. Tipton & Co., <1877>; W.S. Tipton, <1878-1885>; Herald Print. Co., 1887-1888.
  • -  Editors: W.S. Tipton, W.O. Wiggins, <1876>.
  • -  "Republican," 1876-<1877>.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Cleveland weekly herald (DLC)sn 89058036 (OCoLC)19074131

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86053402

OCLC Number

  • 13620789

ISSN Number

  • 2333-3014

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

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 Weekly Herald Cleveland, Tenn. -1888. (Cleveland, TN), Jan. 1 1876. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86053402/.

APA citation style:

(1876, January 1) The Weekly Herald Cleveland, Tenn. -1888. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86053402/.

MLA citation style:

The Weekly Herald Cleveland, Tenn. -1888. (Cleveland, TN) 1 Jan. 1876. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86053402/.