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Title:
Wausau pilot. [volume] : (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940
Place of publication:
Wausau, Wis.
Geographic coverage:
  • Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin  |  View more titles from this: City County, State
Publisher:
E.B. Thayer
Dates of publication:
1896-1940
Description:
  • Vol. 31, no. 35 (July 28, 1896)-v. 76, no. 4 (Oct. 31, 1940).
Frequency:
Weekly
Language:
  • English
Subjects:
  • Wausau (Wis.)--Newspapers.
  • Wisconsin--Wausau.--fast--(OCoLC)fst01204035
Notes:
  • Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • Available on microfilm from The State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
  • Editors: E.B. Thayer, July 28, 1896-July 20, 1920; E.B. Thayer Jr., Aug. 13, 1925-Oct. 31, 1940.
  • Publisher varies.
  • Supplements accompany some issues.
LCCN:
sn 85040749
OCLC:
12075436
ISSN:
2689-9965
Preceding Titles:
Related Links:
Holdings:
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Wausau pilot. [volume] January 2, 1900 , Image 1

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Wisconsin River Pilot, Wausau Wochenblatt, The Central Wisconsin, Pilot and Review and Wausau Pilot

The Wausau River Pilot was first published in 1865 by 18-year old Valentine Ringle. The son of German immigrants, Ringle learned the printer's trade as a boy and later also published a German-language title, the Wausau Wochenblatt. At its commencement, the Pilot competed with another Wausau weekly, the Central Wisconsin and its German-language publication Freie Presse. Being a supporter of the Democratic Party, Ringle's Pilot mirrored his political leaning.

As one of the county seat's first newspapers, the Pilot documents the community's history from a lumbering town of several hundred residents to city of thousands, with a growing papermaking industry after the arrival of the railroad in 1874.

In 1884, the Wausau River Pilot was consolidated with the Wausau Weekly Review which had existed since 1882. Together, they were published as the Pilot and Review by former Review editor Eugene Thayer. Thayer, who held multiple political offices, continued the political identity of the publication. Because of its political standing and its audience in a county (Marathon) with many German immigrants, the Wausau Pilot offers an interesting perspective on the Progressive Era and World War I.

Under Thayer's leadership, the publication became the Pilot Review in 1886 and, finally, the Wausau Pilot in 1896. Thayer ran the publication until his retirement in 1920 and was succeeded by the Pilot Printing & Publishing Company, managed by Fred A. Fuhrmann; the paper was edited by Thayer's son Eugene B. Thayer, Jr.

Provided by: Wisconsin Historical Society