About The Florence daily tribune. (Florence, Colo.) 1898-1903
Florence, Colo. (1898-1903)

Florence Daily Tribune and Daily Tribune

Florence, Colorado is located in Fremont County, situated on the ancestral lands of the Southern Ute tribe. The discovery of oil in Florence in the late 1860s brought rapid growth to the town, which became the first oil center west of the Mississippi. It was officially incorporated as a town in 1887.

Herbert W. Burdett established the Daily Herald on October 3, 1896. It was edited by B.F.N. MacRorie. Owing to legal complications, the name was changed to the Florence Daily Tribune in 1898. Former Herald editor MacRorie published the first issue of the Tribune on March 2, 1898, and it was, at the time, the only daily paper in Florence. MacRorie noted in the first issue his intentions to publish "a bright newsy and impartial paper, giving all the local news available, all the latest telegraphic news, and from time to time running a serial story." Two weeks later, MacRorie gave up editing the paper, but retained his financial interest in the Tribune's publication company.

In September 1898, E.F. Brown and J.F. Greenawalt, both from Three Oaks, Michigan, moved to Florence and purchased the plant, business, and name of the Florence Daily Tribune. Brown was formerly the proprietor and editor of the Three Oaks Press and would serve as the business manager and mechanical head of the Florence Daily Tribune. Greenawalt took over the editorial department, and, according to Burdett, was an "experienced stenographer and [would] be able to report council meetings and police court rows without possibility of dispute" (Florence Daily Tribune, September 21, 1898). During this time, the paper employed a Hoe power press, run by a Hercules gasoline engine. Brown and Greenawalt also secured the daily telephonic services of the Western Press Association and were able to "supply foreign and domestic news hot from the wires in three or four times the amount that patrons of any other paper in this county have enjoyed" (Florence Daily Tribune, March 1, 1898).

The paper changed ownership yet again in March 1899, adding Henry M. Mingay and E.E. Watts to its list of owners. Mingay acted as business manager and Watts was the foreman. By December, the Salida Mail reported that "[a] change occurred … in the proprietorship of the Florence Daily Tribune. Messrs. Watts and Greenawalt disposed of their interest in the plant. J.W. Summersett, a newspaper man of years' experience in the east, is now half owner."

The very next day, on December 6, the Daily Journal of Telluride reported that Summersett had acquired the other half and was now the sole proprietor. Greenawalt, although no longer an investor in the paper, stayed on as editor until December 1901, when he left Florence for the gold camp of Victor, having purchased the Victor Record. In his last issue as editor, Greenawalt addressed his readers, "Not everybody realizes so fully as do the people of Florence what an important factor a daily newspaper is in the building of a city, and realizing it, co-operates so heartily in making its continuity possible."

The Florence Daily Tribune became the Daily Tribune on February 20, 1903. It was under the editorial control of A.P. Williams when the paper employed its first female reporter in November 1907. Adelle Mikesell, who came from the journalistic world of Kansas City, joined the Tribune and contributed human interest stories and feature material. The Tribune was sold again in August 1908 to J.F. Torrence, formerly a life insurance agent, Lynn Smith, and M.J. Doyle. The Delta Independent noted that "[a]lready a wonderful improvement is noticed in the quality of news, make up and press work, showing conclusively that the new owners are industrious, intelligent and progressive" (August 25, 1908).

According to the Daily Journal of Telluride of May 6, 1909, the plant of the Florence Daily Journal was sold to satisfy a mortgage. On May 15, 1909, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported, "[s]ubscribers who were looking for the Daily Tribune Wednesday evening were surprised when they learned that the new owner had suddenly decided to discontinue the paper without any notice being given." Rumors of new purchasers to continue publishing the paper, which had for 13 years served the readership of Florence, proved false and the paper quietly folded.

Provided by: History Colorado