History

Founded in 1876, Hamilton Herald-News is Hamilton’s oldest business institution and has always been an integral part of life in Hamilton.

Only 200 people lived in Hamilton when it began publication on an old Washington hand press in the back end of a stone building on the south side of the square. The first paper was owned by Judge J.A. Eidson, and Capt. W.T. Saxon was the first editor and later became owner and publisher.

The Herald absorbed a number of other newspapers, consolidating with the Hamilton Record in 1920, which was an outgrowth of the Hamilton Rustler, which along with The Courier and The Journal were published before the turn of the century. Another newspaper in Hamilton, The Hamilton County News, was founded in 1931 and had five or six owners in its 12-year history.

Coy Perry bought the Herald-Record and the County News in 1943 and consolidated them under the name The Hamilton Herald-News.

The Bob Miller family bought the paper in 1965 with Bob serving as editor and publisher while wife Mavis was business and advertising manager. Sons Roger and Kenneth bought the paper from their parents in 1982, and Kenneth bought out Roger in 1997 and continued his family’s legacy until 2014.

When Kenneth became ill in 2014, he wanted to sell the paper to someone who loved Hamilton as much as he did and chose to sell it to Grant Lengefeld and Maria and James Weaver.

Over the years, Hamilton has grown to a thriving city of 3000 residents with a state-of-the-art hospital, superior school system, aggressive chamber of commerce and strong economic development corporation. The Herald-News continues to provide factual, objective coverage of the community.

Our readers can trust that we have tracked down the facts and will not print if we are not confident of the truth. We are in the community, documenting life in Hamilton. No one else does that.

No one covers Hamilton like the Hamilton Herald-News.