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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Lamar Register (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952

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About The Lamar Register (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952

The Bent County Register began as a weekly publication in June 1886 in the fever of the real estate boom precipitated by the founding of Lamar, Colorado. Located in the fertile valley of the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado, and attractive to both cattlemen and farmers looking to move west from Kansas, the town of Lamar sprouted up literally overnight between May 23 and 24, 1886. Real estate investor I.R. Holmes and Santa Fe railroad man Colonel A.S. Johnson secured a deed to land along the Santa Fe line and spread the word that the opening sale of town lots would take place on May 24, 1886. By means of subterfuge, a train depot was taken off its foundations and relocated by rail to the new town site in time to accommodate the “boom train” arriving from Garden City, Kansas. Among the passengers arriving the following day were investors who purchased over $45,000 in town lots, doing business in a tent serving as Lamar’s makeshift headquarters. The town was officially established on May 24, 1886, with many of the same investors deciding to immediately take up residence, ordering building materials by telegraph.

One of the early settlers who flocked to Lamar was Judge W.R. Davis, of Dodge City, Kansas, who alit from the train on June 7, 1886, with an antiquated printing outfit. Davis rented space with a floor and walls (no roof) and opened the Bent County Register. The first issue of the newspaper was published on June 12, 1886, during a driving rainstorm. It was so popular that Davis sold copies of the first issue as fast as they came off the press, the news-hungry settlers paying “such fancy prices that not even a sample copy for the files was left when the supply of paper gave out.”

W.R. Davis brought with him considerable newspaper experience, having worked for the Dodge City Globe and “stood in the front rank of Kansas journalists,” according to the Garden City Daily Sentinel. Colorado’s Saguache Democrat described the new Bent County Register as “a sprightly sheet,” and the Kinsley (Kansas) Mercury noted that while the “first number was gotten up under difficulties…it is nevertheless a neatly printed paper.”

During the 1886-89 boom years, the Bent County Register extolled the virtues of the “Future Great City of Eastern Colorado”–the rich soil, pure water, irrigation systems, available farming lands, and land office. Even after the inevitable economic bust and in the face of a dwindling population, the newspaper continued publication in 1889 as the Lamar Register. Merchants State Bank President B.B. Brown bought the Register in 1890. The following year, Brown sold the paper to E.F. Seeberger and a newspaper man from Granada, Colorado, George B. Merrill. C.D. Ford bought out Seeberger’s share in 1892, and by 1895, George Merrill had bought out Ford to become the Register‘s sole owner. When Merrill died in 1935, his son, John Merrill took over the publication of the paper, until he sold it in March 1952 to the Holly Chieftain.

Provided By: History Colorado

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Lamar Register (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952

Dates of Publication

  • 1889-1952

Created / Published

  • Lamar, Colo. : W.R. Davis, 1889-1952.

Headings

  • -  Lamar (Colo.)--Newspapers
  • -  Colorado--Lamar
  • -  United States--Colorado--Prowers--Lamar

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 3, no. 42 (Mar. 30, 1889)-v. 66, no. 41 (Mar. 26, 1952).
  • -  Publisher: Geo. B. Merrill, .
  • -  Available on microfilm from the Colorado Historical Society.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 41, no. 44 (Apr. 13, 1927).
  • -  Holly chieftain (Holly, Colo. : 1897) (DLC)sn 90051185 (OCoLC)21287303

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86063147

OCLC Number

  • 13179692

ISSN Number

  • 2577-4093

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 Lamar Register Lamar, Colo. -1952. (Lamar, CO), Jan. 1 1889. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86063147/.

APA citation style:

(1889, January 1) The Lamar Register Lamar, Colo. -1952. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86063147/.

MLA citation style:

The Lamar Register Lamar, Colo. -1952. (Lamar, CO) 1 Jan. 1889. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86063147/.