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History of
Oklahoma County Newspapers
The first issue of the Daily Oklahoman was
published in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory (O.T.), on January
14, 1894. Rev. Samuel W. Small, a Georgia native, founded the paper.
Before coming to O.T. he had worked on the Atlanta Constitution
newspaper, served as an official reporter for the U.S. Senate, and
worked as a confidential secretary to former Pres. Andrew Johnson.
Oklahoma City then had two daily papers, the morning
Press-Gazette and the afternoon Times-Journal. Small
thought Oklahoma City needed a better paper. Although he had
limited funds, he sought to operate his daily paper like one in a
big city, utilizing Associated Press news and market reports by
telegraph and territorial weather forecasts from the weather bureau
in Washington, D.C. To gather news Small staffed offices in the
territorial towns of Guthrie, Perry, Norman, Ardmore, Yukon, El
Reno, and Newkirk. He formed a stock company to raise money, but he
soon lost control and returned to Georgia. The stock company,
controlled largely by the First National Bank, operated the paper
but also experienced financial difficulties. The corporation then
leased the Daily Oklahoman to Charles F. Barrett, who managed
it for less than a year. Frustrated by its investment, the stock
company sold the paper to R. Q. Blakeney, who cut expenses by
running it as a modest, small-town newspaper. Blakeney published it
with some success until March 1900 when Roy E. Stafford and W. T.
Parker purchased it and made improvements using Parker's money.
After Stafford suggested that they purchase a second Linotype
machine, Parker decided that the newspaper was too costly an
investment. He sold his interest in the paper to Stafford. In
December 1902 twenty-nine-year-old Edward K. Gaylord came to
Oklahoma City and asked Stafford if he would sell an interest in the
paper. Needing more capital, Stafford agreed. In late January 1903
Gaylord became business manager, and the Oklahoma Publishing Company
was formed. Under Gaylord's leadership, the paper began to make
money. Early in 1916 OPUBCO purchased the struggling Oklahoma
Times and successfully published it for sixty-eight years. In
1918 Gaylord became president of the company after Stafford sold his
controlling interest for $300,000. Under the leadership of Edward K.
Gaylord, the Daily Oklahoman continued to increase its
circulation and prosper, serving not only Oklahoma City, but also
all of Oklahoma. He led the business until his death in 1974. His
son Edward L. Gaylord took the reins and served as publisher and
editor of the paper until his death in April 2003. Edward L.
Gaylord's daughter, Christy Gaylord Everest, became president. Ed
Kelley was hired as editor and David Thompson as publisher. In
October 2003 the paper was renamed The Oklahoman.
E. K. GAYLORD was a rugged, enduring pioneer whose memory will
live in the annals of American journalism. His news career began in
1901 and ended only with his death, at the age of 101. Typically, he
was active and working to the end. Over the years, as editor and
publisher, Mr. Gaylord built the Daily Oklahoman into one of the
leading newspapers of the American Southwest. His clear, forthright,
and reasoned editorials reflected not only his keen judgment of men
and events but his deep love of country. Mrs. Nixon and I extend our
sympathy to Mr. Gaylord's family and friends on the sad
occasion of his passing.
Note: Mr. Gaylord died in Oklahoma City, Okla.,
on May 30, 1974.
Other
Newspapers in Oklahoma County include
The Edmond Sun
The
Capital Hill Beacon
The Jornal
Record
Data from Oklahoma County
Newspapers
New Family For Orphan of Tragedy
Close Friends Adobt Babe Whose Parents
Died in
Theater Crash
New York: Feb.
25- Ruth
Gladys Alma
Lehmer,
5 years
old, who was orphaned
by
the
Knickerbocker theater
collapse
in
Washington on January 28, was adopted
today
by Mr. &
Mrs. Charles Hardy of this city.
The Hardy's
were close friends of Mr. & Mrs. LeRoy
L. Lehmer,
who were
buried
beneath the Knickerbrockers
debris.
Contrary to custom, the
little girls surname was
not changed,
and she
will
continue to the
known as
Ruth Lehmer.
Source:
"Daily
Oklahoman",
February 26, 1922, Page 6,
Column
4
- Submitted
by Linda Craig
Mid-Air
Crash Leaves Two Dead;
Lawton Pilot,
Fletcher Man
Okay
Ponca City
(UPI)
Investigators
probed
through the crumbed
wreckage of a
light
plane in a
northern Oklahoma
wheat field today in
an effort to
determine what
caused
a mid-air
collision
that killed an
Oklahoma
City
couple.
Ned and
Lila
Shoffner, parents
of five
children, were killed when their plane
scraped
the
bottom of
another light plane
6, 500 feet in the air
and
crashed
near Ponca City
Monday. Two men
in the
other
plane
escaped
injury
when they landed their damaged
craft at the Ponca
City
airport.
There
was
speculation Shoffner may have been
blinded by the sun
and
failed to
see the
other plane until too
late.
Shoffner,
30, vice
president of the Shoffner
Sand and
Gravel Co. of
Oklahoma, and his
wife, Lila,
30, both
of Oklahoma
City were
killed instantly when
their plane
plummeted to the
earth
after the mid-air
collision.
Escaping
injury
were the pilot of the
other plane,
John
Potts, of
Lawton, and his passenger,
H. D. Dalton, a
Fletcher,
Okla.,
funeral home
director.
The
Shoffners had
traded
in
a Cessna on
the
2-year-old Piper Commanche last
Saturday. They left
Sunday for Kansas
City and were
returning home
when the accident
occurred.
The
highway patrol
said
the Shoffner
plane
came up
under the Potts
plane,
striking the
underside and
causing
considerable
damage.
The
collision occurred
about four
miles from
the Ponca City
airport.
The
Shoffner
plane
crashed
in a wheat field
four miles east of Tonkawa,
some five miles
from
where the planes collided.
It sank
about four
feet
into
the
soft ground and
wreckage
was scattered
over a 1 ½ square mile
aea.
The other
plane made a
belly landing, without
wheels, at
the
airport. Dalton
and Potts were
en route to North
Dakota
to pick
up a
body to
return to
Fetcher.
"We had
just checked in
with the tower at
Ponca City and I
had closed my eyes
and settled
back in my
seat
to catch 40 winks." Dalton
said.
"The
next thing I knew
there was a terrific
bang and I was bounced severly in
my seat…. I thought we
had hit
a
goose, but the pilot told me
we had struck
another
aircraft."
"I
never
did see the plane. By the time
I
came to my senses, I
looked out
the
right-hand side and
we didn't
have any
landing
gear."
"We
came in
without any
wheels. We
both had to stand on the left
rudder pedal to
keep
it under control."
Dalton
added. [Lawton
Constitution
(Lawton,
Oklahoma) October
10, 1964
-
Submitted by Nancy Piper]
CRUSHED BENEATH 400 POUND IRON
O. C. Leaverton, Katy workman, meets with serious accident at
roundhouse.
O. C. Leaverton, 630 East Fourth Street, an employee of the
M.K&T
railway at the local round house
was seriously injured
yesterday morning
about
11
o'clock. He was engaged
in
work on the chafing
iron, which connects
the engine
and the tank of
a locomotive when
the board flooring
broke and
precipitated him to
the floor of the pit six
feet below,
the chafing iron, a
long bar running full distance of
the ender and weighing fullly 400
pounds
falling upon
him. His
injuries consisted of a broken right
arm, a badly
bruised leg, and ugly
scalp wound
requiring six stitches
to close and other
injuries about
the
body.
Immediately after the accident
he was
removed
to his
home in an
ambulance. A
physician was called and Mr. Leaverton's
injuries
dressed. He will recover. [Daily
Oklahoman printed
Sepember 3,
1907
on page 5]
Submitted
by Linda Craig
State Air Pioneer Dies at 99
The Daily Oklahoman - Friday, May
3, 1991
Author: Robert E.
Lee
Marie Kelly Sponholz, the first woman employee
of Lockheed
Aircraft Co., died
Jan. 20 at age 99. She was a
native
of
Oklahoma
, but we have been unable
to learn her
hometown. Bob
Lovell
of Kingfisher sent us
a news story of her
death . In
1926,
Allan Lockheed hired
her away from the Burbank, Calif.,
chamber
of
commerce, although her boss advised: "You
wouldn't want
that.
Aviation is for
cowboy pilots who go riding
on
Saturdays. It's not
going to last." At
Lockheed, she
became friends with
Charles A. Lindbergh and two fellow
Oklahomans, Will Rogers and Wiley
Post. After 3 1/2
years at Lockheed, she
married and moved to San Diego.
She died and is buried
at Culver City, Calif.
Sheriff W. E. Nix of
Oklahoma was here
this week to get
a prisoner by the
name of Tom Allen, wanted in that
state. (Source: Green River Star, Green River WY, June
20, 1913.)
Submitted by Marie
Miller
.
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