About The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904
Morgantown, W. Va. (1876-1904)

The New Dominion

"Devoted to the interests of Monongalia County," Morgantown, West Virginia newspaper The New Dominion ran weekly throughout the Gilded Age, from 1876-1904. Julian E. Fleming helmed the paper as its "proprietor and editor" during the entirety of this almost 30-year span. Initially in partnership with W.L. Morgan, Fleming gained sole control of The New Dominion by 1879. A retrospective history of newspapers published in Monongalia County from the beginning of the nineteenth century ran in the December 19, 1885 issue, mentioning one William Jacobs as also having conceived the paper alongside Fleming. Released every Saturday until October of 1897, when it switched to Wednesdays, The New Dominion was published in two, 26-issue volumes per year from its inception until October of 1882, at which point it opted for one 52-issue volume per year instead. To someone not aware of this quirk, later volume numbers of the paper can make it appear as if it had been running 10 years longer than it actually did. Regardless of the volume, the paper was consistently four-pages and did not increase its $1.50 per year subscription price at any point in its history.

Given the paper's Democratic Party affiliation, it might come as little surprise that according to an 1895 biographical sketch, Fleming had a brief appointment to a "government store-keeper" position during Grover Cleveland's first term. This would have entailed managing and examining shipments of goods for whatever agency Fleming was assigned. Perhaps more surprising is that Fleming resigned from this post. Indeed, contrary to Cleveland, Fleming would go on to support the "free silver," populist wing of the Democratic Party and William Jennings Bryan's failed 1896 candidacy for president. As to be expected, The New Dominion often took swipes at its Republican rival, the Morgantown Weekly Post and its editor, Henry Morgan, descendent of Morgantown founder Zackquill Morgan, calling the Post a "narrow-gauge neighbor" and reprinting a piece referring to the Post's editors as "politically deranged." Nevertheless, following Henry Morgan's 1898 suicide, The New Dominion published a respectful salute to the man.

In 1897, the Daily New Dominion began under the editorship of Justin M. Kunkle, whose name had appeared previously in the weekly as editor of the local section as well as for being chairman of a "Free Silver Club" in Morgantown. The Daily differed from its parent paper in its inclusion of train and steamboat schedules, as well coverage of up-to-date goings-on in Morgantown one would expect from a more frequently published newspaper. For instance, in early November 1902, the Daily devoted a considerable amount of ad space to a parish festival at a local Catholic Church. Yet each paper offered considerable commentary on West Virginia University, up to and including a special The University Daily issued by the publisher during West Virginia University's commencement week each year. And despite the mutual animosity between The New Dominion and the Post, a series of mergers and spin-offs over the course of the twentieth century would see the two eventually combine to form today's Dominion-Post by 1973.

Provided by: West Virginia University