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Newspaper The Breckenridge News (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955 Breckinridge news

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About The Breckenridge News (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955

According to legend, John D. Babbage owned a small job press and mercantile when he started the Breckenridge News on July 22, 1876 as a means of spreading the word about his businesses. The earliest issues of the Breckenridge News have disappeared, but a near complete collection of the paper exists after July 17, 1878. Each Wednesday, its eight seven-column pages proved a mix of local community and political news, a sampling of broad general interest stories, and opinion pieces by local columnists. Early editions run under the name Breckenridge News and refer to the county as Breckenridge despite the official spelling Breckinridge (after former Kentucky legislator and U.S. attorney general, Senator John Breckinridge.)

The Breckenridge News was not afraid to take unpopular editorial stances. In the January 4, 1899 edition, Babbage boasted that his paper was one of the first to advocate a more imperialistic policy for the United States: “The brilliant victory of Dewey at Manila has advanced this country a hundred years. A policy of isolation such as pursued by our county in the past is selfish and has a tendency to produce an insular narrowness that will, if followed up, in time dwarf the national character…” On the home front, the Breckenridge News generally sided with the Democrats and took an interest in intra-party conflicts. When some members of the party refused to recognize the incumbent William Goebel as candidate for governor, the paper noted approvingly that a baker’s dozen of “genuine and conscientious Democrats” had met to appoint delegates to a second convention that would nominate an alternative candidate.

The Breckenridge News regularly covered local and regional activities. “News of the Vicinage” reported on developments in Meade and Breckinridge counties. “Latest Farm News and Views” and “Agricultural News and Views” focused on the agrarian side of the economy. “Curious things in Breckenridge” highlighted the odd and bizarre news of the region, while “All Around the World” touched on national and global events. The paper periodically printed short stories by famous authors of the era such as The Burning of Sarah Sands by Rudyard Kipling and The Fantasy of David Swan by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Perhaps most out of the ordinary for the period was the paper’s lone female columnist, Mrs. Hattie Grinnell, who presented with great regularity her personal opinions on wide-ranging matters in the community.

John D. Babbage continued publication of the Breckenridge News until his death in 1934. His daughter, Mildred Babbage, took over as editor and publisher until her death in 1949 when the paper went to W.G. Polk, grandson of John Babbage. The Babbage reign ended one year later when the paper was sold to George and Edith Wilson who owned the other Breckinridge County paper the Irvington Herald. The two papers merged in 1956 becoming the Breckinridge County Herald-News which remains in publication today.

Provided By: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Breckenridge News (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955

Other Title

  • Breckinridge news

Dates of Publication

  • 1876-1955

Created / Published

  • Cloverport, Ky. : John D. Babbage, -1955.

Headings

  • -  Breckinridge County (Ky.)--Newspapers
  • -  Hardinsburg (Ky.)--Newspapers
  • -  Cloverport (Ky.)--Newspapers
  • -  Kentucky--Breckinridge County
  • -  Kentucky--Cloverport
  • -  Kentucky--Hardinsburg
  • -  United States--Kentucky--Breckinridge--Hardinsburg
  • -  United States--Kentucky--Breckinridge--Cloverport

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1876. Cf. Gregory W. Amer. newspapers.
  • -  -80th yr., no. 6 (June 24, 1955).
  • -  Published at Hardinsburg, Ky. beginning with the Apr. 16, 1953 issue.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 11 (Sept. 30, 1876).
  • -  Breckenridge news and the Irvington herald (DLC)sn 86069310 (OCoLC)13908612

Medium

  • 80 v. : ill.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86069309

OCLC Number

  • 13905389

ISSN Number

  • 1943-8893

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 Breckenridge News Cloverport, Ky. -1955. (Hardinsburg, KY), Jan. 1 1876. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86069309/.

APA citation style:

(1876, January 1) The Breckenridge News Cloverport, Ky. -1955. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86069309/.

MLA citation style:

The Breckenridge News Cloverport, Ky. -1955. (Hardinsburg, KY) 1 Jan. 1876. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn86069309/.