About Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872
Toledo, Tama County, Iowa (1867-1872)

The Iowa Transcript, Tama County Republican and The Toledo Chronicle

On April 21, 1856, M.V.B. Kenton published the first issue of Tama County's first newspaper, the Toledo Tribune. Within the first two years, the paper passed to a number of different editors and proprietors. During this time, the Tribune was mostly politically neutral and was presented as "A family journal - devoted to truth, justice, humanity, and the news of the day."

In October 1858, Nathan C. Wieting purchased an interest in the Tribune and took full editorial control, changing the title to the Iowa Transcript and aligning it with the Republican Party. After an eight year run, the Transcript ceased publication in 1866 due to financial difficulties. In the final issue, published on November 9, Wieting explained that the paper was no longer sustainable with the amount of advertising and job printing business it had received since much of this work was sent out to larger cities. He wrotes, "We sincerely hope they will see the error of this in the future, and when they secure another press, see the importance of sustaining a home enterprise, instead of a foreign one even should it cost a few cents more." Wieting moved his printing office to Belle Plaine, Iowa, and established the Belle Plaine Transcript the following month.

By January 1867, a new publication did emerge to take the Toledo Transcript's place when John T. Rice established the Tama County Republican. Melville True purchased an interest in the paper in July 1868, before buying out Rice to become the sole proprietor four months later. With the beginning of the paper's seventh volume in January 1873, True changed the title to the Toledo Chronicle. He saw this title as a better reflection of the paper's aim "to mirror the passing history of the day, to chronicle every event in the county worthy of note, to be, in short, the newspaper of Tama County."

Just two weeks later, in the January 16, 1873 issue, True announced that he would be leaving his role as editor and that Warren Harman would be taking charge of the Chronicle for the rest of the year. In December 1873, Harman retired from the paper, and James B. Hedge took over the editorial duties with the January 1, 1874 issue. In a greeting to the Chronicle's patrons, he expressed his desire to make the Chronicle "one of the best local papers in central Iowa" but echoed the financial concerns of his predecessors by noting that he and his staff "expect to stay here as long as we receive a fair degree of support from the citizens of Toledo and Tama County." Despite this uncertainty, Hedge was able to sustain and grow the business throughout his tenure as editor.

The Chronicle absorbed the Tama County Democrat in 1924 to become the Toledo Chronicle-Democrat. The following year, the title changed back to the Toledo Chronicle, which is still published today.

Provided by: State Historical Society of Iowa