About Wyoming weekly Republican. (Sundance, Crook County, Wyo.) 1889-1892
Sundance, Crook County, Wyo. (1889-1892)

The Wyoming Weekly Republican

The newspaper that would become the Wyoming Weekly Republican began in Sundance, Wyoming in 1888 as the Wyoming Farmer. The Wyoming Farmer only published for one year and became the Wyoming Republican in 1889. The name Wyoming Republican did not last a full year, and in December 1889, it became the Wyoming Weekly Republican. J. L. Stutts was the editor and publisher of all three titles until April 1890, when the editor became M. Nichols. Nichols remained editor, with W. C. Hall listed as manager, until April 1891, when Hall became sole manager and, later, editor and publisher to the paper until the end of its printing.

The Wyoming Weekly Republican began with six pages, but in March 1890 it was reduced to four pages. By April it had gone up to eight pages and remained that way until its final year of publication in 1892, when it dropped back down to four pages. Despite changing page lengths, the topics the Weekly Republican covered remained the same, with a specific focus on state and local news, as well as governmental news from across the country. Almost every issue of the Weekly Republican included notices for publication, which informed readers of settler's final land claims, and showed the steady growth of the town of Sundance. Every issue included a short, two stanza poem on the third page, even through the change in editors. Another noteworthy article type was the occasional piece on interesting animals and the lives they lived, such as raccoons and tortoises.

In 1892 the Wyoming Weekly Republican changed titles again, becoming the Sundance Reform. The name change only lasted one year, and in October 1893 the Reform was absorbed into the Sundance Gazette, which had begun publication in 1884. The Gazette was also a weekly paper, and it had covered many of the same topics and had the same tone as the Weekly Republican and its precedents, with a heavy focus on state and government news delivered in a Republican tone. The Gazette did not make it past the turn of the century and ceased publication in 1899 with no succeeding titles.

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