About Southern live-stock journal. (Starkville, Miss.) 1876-1891
Starkville, Miss. (1876-1891)

Southern Live-stock Journal, The Southern Farm Gazette, and Progressive Farmer and Southern Farm Gazette

After the Civil War, Oktibbeha County in east-central Mississippi, became well-known in the South for Jersey dairy cows due to the efforts of native son William Bell Montgomery. For three decades, Montgomery was an agricultural leader in the area, and he was instrumental in securing the county seat, Starkville, as the home of the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College. Montgomery was a trustee of the college, which opened to students in 1879 and is now known as Mississippi State University, for 25 years. He established a 16-page weekly newspaper, the Southern Live-stock Journal (1875-1891) which provided news, editorials, information, advice, and relevant advertisements for area farmers on modern agriculture and stock-raising. From at least 1879 through March 1890, Edwin Montgomery, William's son, edited the journal.

The Southern Farm Gazette, for a time distributed semi-monthly, was founded in 1895 by Dr. Tait Butler, the first veterinary professor at the A&M.; In many ways, the Gazette picked up where the Journal left off; this may have been due partially to the fact that, for the first few years, Edwin Montgomery was the editor. At first, it was primarily devoted to "farmers and stock-raisers," as was the earlier paper, and would often contain columns devoted to such topics as dairy, poultry, horses, and cattle. In 1907, a transition began when the paper returned to weekly publication and expanded in scope and geographic distribution, claiming to be a farm and home journal for several southern states. By January 1909, Dr. Butler, still residing in Starkville, was the editor-in-chief and business manager of the Southern Farm Gazette, which had merged with the Raleigh, North Carolina-based Progressive Farmer; offices were maintained in both cities. While still focused on farm-related news, information, and advice, later issues of the Gazette were also concerned with the economics of farming and attracting youth to the occupation.

In 1910, the title of the merged newspapers became the Progressive Farmer and Southern Farm Gazette which it kept until 1920; several regional editions were published under this name. The paper remained a weekly with the length varying from 16 to 32 pages. Needing a centralized location accessible via railroad, in 1911, Birmingham, Alabama was selected as the site for a new production and printing facility. Dr. Butler remained with the Progressive Farmer Company until his death in 1939. The Progressive Farmer is still published in Birmingham today as a monthly magazine, as is its popular lifestyle spin-off, Southern Living.

Provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History