About The Glenwood post. (Glenwood Springs, Colo.) 1897-current
Glenwood Springs, Colo. (1897-current)

The Glenwood Post

The Glenwood Post began its publication life as The Glenwood Post and Weekly Ledger on January 2, 1897. It was one of many newspapers that tried to establish itself in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, a mountain resort town, owing to its proximity to natural hot springs around which tourism thrived. When the Glenwood Post and Weekly Ledger published its first edition in 1897, it noted metaphorically that the journalistic graveyard of Glenwood Springs was "full of editorial tombstones on which are engraved significant epitaphs of no uncertain meaning. We visited these graves and studied the epitaphs and became convinced that the time was ripe for another venture." C.L. Bennett and W.J. Wright were the editors and proprietors of the new venture, which had taken over the plant of the former Weekly Ledger. C.L. Bennett was the principal of Glenwood Springs schools, prior to entering into newspaper publishing, although The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction described him as a "newspaper writer of considerable force and experience" (January 4, 1897). According to contemporary newspapers, the Glenwood Post and Weekly Ledger was notable for its use of all-home print (not employing pre-printed patent sheets), and it was described as democratic in national politics and independent in county affairs. The paper shortened its name to the Glenwood Post on July 17, 1897.

Another Glenwood Springs newspaper, The Avalanche Echo announced the "annual change of ownership of The Glenwood Post" had taken place on December 30, 1897. On January 1, 1898, A.J. Dickson reported that he would "doff our hat, ditto our coat, roll up our sleeves, mount the editorial tripod and assume editorial management of the Post." Politically speaking, the paper leaned less democratic and more Silver Republican than under previous management, although Dickson maintained that he did not intend to make the Post a "partisan political sheet to the defeat of our original intention to make it a newspaper for the people." By 1902, Dickson had installed a "Simplex" typesetting machine to print the 8-page, 6-column newspaper, which proclaimed itself the "Official Paper of Garfield County."

A.J. Dickson published the Glenwood Post for 34 years. According to Colorado Newspapers: A History & Inventory, 1859-2000 (Jane C. Harper, Craig W. Leavitt, Thomas J. Noel, 2014), "tumultuous business years, marked by the Wall Street Collapse of 1929 and the ensuring Great Depression, coupled with his advancing years and declining health and energy" led Dickson to sell The Glenwood Post to Roy and Blanche Jackson in March 1932. A later publisher of The Glenwood Post, John Samuelson described the Jacksons as "paper property entrepreneurs, having bought and sold newspapers throughout the West and Southwest," (Colorado Newspapers: A History & Inventory, 1859-2000, 522). The Post was sold to L.P. Loomis in June 1935, but the Jacksons resumed management in July after Loomis suffered injuries sustained in an automobile accident. In August 1936, the Jacksons sold the paper to J.E. "Jack" Samuleson.

The Samuleson family owned the Post for 35 years. During the Depression, sometimes subscriptions and print jobs were paid for by bartering. John Samuleson, son of Jack, quoted in Colorado Newspapers: A History & Inventory, 1859-2000, described ranchers and businessmen paying their bills with "chicken, eggs, honeycombs, strawberries, bushels of fruits and vegetables…[e]ven a side of beef found its way into the news office" (522). Rationing of newsprint during the Second World War allowed the paper to publish just six pages a week. Post-war activities of the paper included promoting Glenwood Springs as a tourist and recreational destination. In January 1971, Stauffer Publications, Inc., which owned and operated newspapers in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, added The Glenwood Post to its list of publications. Morris Communications Corporation purchased The Glenwood Post in 1994. The newspaper continues publication today.

Provided by: History Colorado