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1981-2018
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*Does not include the August 12, 2010 issue of the Banner Press.
Currently, we are unable to locate a replacement issue.

Note: 
The files of the Weimar Mercury are copyrighted 
and any commercial use or republication is prohibited
 without permission of the Weimar Mercury. 
The Mercury can be contacted at P.O. Box 277,
 Weimar, Texas 78962, or by e-mail 
via their website, weimarmercury.com.

History of Colorado County Newspaper


The material below was adapted from "A Handbook of Colorado County Newspapers" compiled by Bill Stein and Elizabeth Schoellmann, and published in Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, vol. 1, no. 9, June 1991. It has been updated and modified for this presentation.

Baker Bulletin (see Columbus Chronicle)

Banner Press Newspaper
Year established: 1985
Publication frequency: weekly
History: The Banner Press Newspaper began publication as the Columbus Banner Press on June 27, 1985. In September 1985, it began publishing a monthly, tabloid-sized magazine called West of the Brazos. Beginning on October 3, 1985, it published two editions, one called Columbus/Colorado County Banner Press and the other Bellville/Austin County Banner Press. Tailored for subscribers and advertisers in their respective counties, the interior pages in each edition were the same, but the front pages were different. The last such editions were published on November 14, 1985. Then and thereafter, the paper was called Austin/Colorado County Banner Press. Finally, beginning with the issue of July 3, 1986, the name was changed to Banner Press Newspaper. On October 20, 1985, the newspaper inaugurated a Sunday edition. The first Sunday issue followed the arrangement of the Thursday editions, that is, there were full-sized editions for each Colorado and Austin Counties. But the second and the several succeeding Sunday issues were styled Combined Sunday Edition Austin/Colorado County Banner Press and produced in a reduced, tabloid-sized format. The Sunday edition went back to full-size on January 19, 1986. Four months later, the Sunday edition was discontinued. The last Sunday edition was issued on May 18, 1986.
Notable publishers and/or editors: George W. Ferguson, Chad Ferguson
Known extant editions: July 27, 1985 through the present

Boomerang
History: Said to be the first newspaper published in Eagle Lake, no copies are known to be extant and no contemporaneous mention of it has been found. All that is known of it comes from an article in the Eagle Lake Headlight of April 5, 1913, which states that the Boomerang was a small, amateurish, irregularly published newspaper published by Isaac A. Porter at Eagle Lake for a few weeks "about the year 1885."
Notable publishers and/or editors: Isaac A. Porter
Known extant editions: none

Chesterville News
Year established: 1901
Year discontinued: unknown
Publication frequency: weekly
History: Extrapolating from the only known extant edition (July 19, 1901, vol. 1, no. 11), we can guess that the first edition was dated May 10, 1901. No other mention of the paper has been found, and the date of its demise is unknown. The front page of the surviving edition was reproduced in the Eagle Lake Headlight of October 2, 1969. It is not known if this edition is still extant.
Notable publishers and/or editors: J. R. Forgy
Known extant editions: none

Colorado County Citizen
Year established: 1857 (original version), 1865 (second incarnation), 1869 (second version)
Publication frequency: 
weekly
History: Colorado Citizen
 was the name of two different newspapers published at Columbus. The first was established in 1857 by James Davis Baker, who came to Columbus from Lockhart, where he had briefly run a newspaper called Southern Watchman. The earliest known extant edition of the Citizen is volume 1, number 4, dated August 15, 1857. Therefore, assuming that the first issue came out three weeks earlier, it was published on July 25, 1857After the outbreak of the Civil War, nearly the entire staff of the newspaper, including Baker and his two brothers, Hicks and Ben, joined the Confederate army, and the paper ceased publication. The last known edition was published on November 2, 1861 (vol. 5, no. 3). Hicks Baker was killed during the war. Jim and Ben Baker returned to Columbus and resumed publication of the Citizen. The earliest known postwar edition is dated September 7, 1865. It picks up the prewar numbering system, being designated volume 5, number 14. However, Jim Baker's health had been impaired, and he decided to leave the city for health reasons. The Bakers sold the newspaper to a local attorney, Fred Barnard. The last known edition under the Bakers was dated October 20, 1866 (vol. 6, no. 1). Barnard changed the name of the paper to Columbus Times. He later sold that newspaper. In 1869, he and Ben Baker wanted to get back into the newspaper business, and they established another newspaper, resurrecting for it the name Colorado Citizen. The earliest know edition of the new Citizen is dated May 6, 1869 and designated volume 1, number 15. Presuming that the paper was issued every week, it can be extrapolated that the first edition of the new Citizen was issued on January 29, 1869. The new Citizen suspended publication twice in the nineteenth century. The first time was during the Columbus yellow fever epidemic of late 1873, which temporarily closed most businesses in town and temporarily drove many residents of the city to rural homes and camps. The second instance was after the office burned on February 5, 1880, destroying all the equipment and, apparently, all the back issues. The paper did not resume publication until March 25, 1880. The paper was issued under the name Colorado Citizen until 1927. With the first issue that year, dated January 6, 1927, then-owner Henry Hurr changed the name to Colorado County Citizen.
Notable publishers and/or editors: 
James Davis Baker, Benjamin Marshall Baker, Fred Barnard, Irvin Guy Stafford, Elias Barry, Joseph Jefferson Mansfield, D. O. Bell, William Ralph Gray, Charles Mrazek, William Lewis Pendergraft, Henry Hurr, Henry Hurr Jr., Paul Grey, Irvin Guy Stafford Jr., Kermit K. Kendall, Elizabeth McLeary McMahan, Mabel Claire McGee, Truman McMahan, James Joseph Belcher, Francis Anthony "Andy" Heines, Jerry Scarborough, Nancy Scarborough, Maynard Livingston "Tex" Rogers, Sally Rogers, Joanie Griffin, Cindy Parkhurst
Known extant editions: 
August 8, 1857, August 29, 1857, September 12, 1857, September 19, October 3, 1857, October 10, 1857, January 9, 1858, January 23 through February 6, 1858, February 20, 1858, February 27, 1858, March 20, 1858, March 27, 1858, April 10 through April 24, 1858, May 29 through July 3, 1858, July 24 through September 4, 1858, September 18, 1858, October 2, October 16, 1858, October 30, 1858, November 6, 1858, November 27, 1858, January 1, 1859, January 8, 1859, January 22, 1859, January 29, 1859, February 19, 1859, March 5 through April 30, 1859, May 14 through June 11, 1859, June 25, 1859, July 2, 1859, July 16 through July 30, 1859, August 13, 1859, August 20, 1859, September 3 through October 13, 1859, October 27 through November 24, 1859, December 8, 1859, December 22, 1859, January 7, 1860, January 21, 1860, January 28, 1860, February 18, 1860, February 25, 1860, March 17, 1860, March 24, 1860, April 14, 1860, May 5, 1860, May 12, 1860, May 26 through June 30, 1860, July 21, 1860, July 28, 1860, August 11 through September 29, 1860, November 3, 1860, December 8, 1860, December 22, 1860, January 5, 1861, January 12, 1861, February 2 through March 2, 1861, March 16, 1861, March 30, 1861, April 6, 1861, May 11 through May 25, 1861, June 15, 1861, July 6 through July 20, 1861, August 3 through September 21, 1861, October 12 through November 2, 1861, September 7, 1865, May 5, 1866, October 20, 1866, May 6, 1869, July 17, 1869, December 2, 1869, January 26, 1871, February 2, 1871, March 16, 1871, May 11, 1871, October 5 through November 2, 1871, November 16 through December 21, 1871, January 18, 1872, February 2 through April 4, 1872, February 27, 1873, January 7 through February 25, 1874, March 19, 1874, April 2 through April 30, 1874, May 14 through December 31, 1874, March 11, 1875, March 18, 1875, April 1 through  June 10, 1875, June 24, 1875 through September 9, 1875, September 23, 1875 through November 18, 1875, December 2 through April 13, 1876, April 27, 1876 through May 18, 1876, June 1, 1876 through June 22, 1876, July 6, 1876 through July 27, 1876, August 10, 1876 through December 7, 1876, December 21, 1876 through February 15, 1877, March 8, 1877 through April 19, 1877, May 3, 1877 through June 14, 1877, July 12, 1877 through September 13, 1877, September 27, 1877 through October 18, 1877, November 8, 1877, November 15, 1877, December 6, 1877, December 13, 1877, December 27, 1877, January 10, 1878 through February 14, 1878, February 28, 1878, March 7, 1878, March 21, 1878 through February 27, 1879, March 13, 1879 through October 23, 1879, November 13, 1879 through February 5, 1880, March 25, 1880 through April 22, 1880, May 27, 1880 through November 4, 1880, November 18, 1880 through April 7, 1881, April 21, 1881 through December 22, 1881, January 5, 1882 through February 23, 1882, March 16, 1882 through November 9, 1882, November 23, 1882 through September 13, 1883, September 27, 1883 through January 12, 1888, January 26, 1888 through February 14, 1889, March 7, 1889, September 19, 1889, October 22, 1889, March 13, 1890 through July 7, 1892, July 21, 1892 through March 2, 1893, March 23, 1893 through September 14, 1893, September 28, 1893 through October 12, 1893, October 26, 1893 through January 11, 1894, February 2, 1894, November 29, 1894, March 28, 1895, June 13, 1895, June 20, 1895, July 11, 1895, August 1, 1895, August 8, 1895, September 12, 1895, September 19, 1895, October 3, 1895 through October 24, 1895, November 14, 1895, February 6, 1896, March 5, 1896 through May 13, 1897, Mary 27, 1897 through January 25, 1900, March 29, 1900, October 11, 1900, January 2, 1902, March 2, 1905, November 2, 1905, November 9, 1905, December 7, 1905, March 1, 1906, March 15, 1906, March 12, 1908, March 19, 1908, April 2, 1908 through June 18, 1908, July 2, 1908 through March 5, 1909, March 19, 1909 through May 28, 1909, July 16, 1909 through July 30, 1909, September 24, 1909 through December 17, 1909, December 31, 1909, January 14, 1910 through August 5, 1910, August 19, 1910 through December 23, 1910, January 6, 1911 through September 8, 1911, September 29, 1911 through December 29, 1911, July 31, 1914, October 23, 1914, May 19, 1916, April 5, 1918 through October 15, 1920, October 29, 1920 through November 12, 1920, November 26, 1920 through September 29, 1922, October 13, 1922 through March 30, 1923, April 13, 1923 through August 24, 1923, September 6, 1923 through October 1, 1925, October 15, 1925 through August 19, 1926, September 2, 1926 through January 14, 1932, January 28, 1932 through September 2, 1948, November 11, 1948 through October 28, 1954, November 11, 1954 through the present

Colorado Democrat
Year established: 1896
Year discontinued: 1896 or 1897
Publication frequency: weekly 
History: The Weimar Mercury of January 25, 1896 includes an announcement that a new newspaper, the "Colorado Democrat," had begun publication in Eagle Lake. The Colorado Citizen, on March 5, 1896 calls the paper the "Eagle Lake Democrat," and the Eagle Lake Headlight of April 5, 1913 calls it the "Colorado County Democrat." As no issues are known to be extant, the confusion about the paper's name cannot be resolved. The 1913 Headlight article reported that the Democrat was established by Felix A. McGauey in 1896, that in 1897, B. B. Gilmer invested money which saved the newspaper, and that after it suspended publication, the printing press was purchased by William R. Kinard who used it to establish the Eagle Lake Advertiser. These statements are difficult to reconcile with evident facts. First, there is a report in the August 19, 1896 issue of the Mercury that the Democrat had suspended publication. Second, the Citizen quotes items from the Democrat fairly regularly until September 1896, when, with one exception, it stops. That exception is the one piece of evidence that supports the contention that the Democrat resumed publication or lasted into 1897. The July 22, 1897 issue of the Citizen quotes an item from the "Eagle Lake Democrat." This peculiar fact, however, is at odds with the statement that the Democrat's printing equipment was purchased by the founders of the Advertiser, for that paper had already been published for several months.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Felix A. McGauey, B. B. Gilmer, C. C. Harris
Known extant editions: none

Columbus Chronicle
Year established: 1908
Year discontinued: 1908
Publication frequency: weekly
History: Drew Cunningham Baker, the son of longtime Colorado Citizen owner Benjamin Marshall Baker, established the Columbus Chronicle shortly after his mother sold the Citizen in 1908. An item from the Houston Post reprinted by the Weimar Mercury on April 11, 1908 refers to the paper as the Baker Bulletin. However when the first issue of the new paper came out on May 14, 1908, it was called Columbus Chronicle. It lasted only five issues, with the last being dated June 11, 1908. After it folded, Baker, its editor, was hired by the Citizen.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Drew Cunningham Baker
Known extant editions: none

Columbus Evening Tribune
Year established: 1899
Year discontinued: 1899
Publication frequency: daily
History: The existence of the paper is known because the Colorado Citizen of March 9, 1899 noted its first issue and that of May 4, 1899 noted its last. According to those items, the first edition of the Columbus Evening Tribune was published on March 6, 1899, the last on May 1, 1899.
Notable publishers and/or editors: W. Frank Miller
Known extant editions: none

Columbus Plaindealer
Year established: 1879 
Year discontinued: 1880
Publication frequency: weekly
History: The Columbus Plaindealer was established by Gail Borden Johnson, as the successor to his earlier newspaper, The Occasional. The first issue was dated June 3, 1879. Its publication was noted in the Colorado Citizen of June 5, 1879. Between August and November 1879, Johnson sold the newspaper to Henry Columbus Quin, who eventually moved it to Weimar and renamed it Weimar Plaindealer.
Notable publishers and/or editors: 
Gail Borden Johnson, Henry Columbus Quin
Known extant editions: January 6, 1880

Columbus Times
Year established: 1867 (original version), 1880 (second incarnation)
Year discontinued: 1869 (original version), 1881 (second incarnation)
History: In 1866, James Davis Baker and Benjamin Marshall Baker sold the Colorado Citizen to Fred Barnard. Barnard eventually changed the name of the newspaper to Columbus Times. As the earliest known extant edition is dated June 6, 1868 and designated volume 2, number 10, it may be extrapolated that the first issue was dated April 6, 1867. In its earliest days, Ben Baker worked for the Times. However, after his departure, the paper seemingly went downhill. Over the next few years, the paper went through a succession of owners. In 1869, Barnard and Baker started another newspaper in Columbus. For it, they resurrected the name Colorado Citizen. The Times soon went out of business. Barnard bought it in late December 1869 or early January 1870, and sold the equipment to a man in Calvert. In July 1881, two Columbus attorneys, Mumford Kennon and Edward Julius Sandmeyer, bought the press of the recently failed Weimar Plaindealer and established a second newspaper in Columbus. For it, they revived the name Columbus Times. Their version of the Times failed in May 1881, due to lack of patronage.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Fred Barnard, Richard J. Putney, James Richard Fleming, James Monroe Daniels, Andrew J. Vaughan, William H. Lessing, Mumford Kennon, Edward Julius Sandmeyer
Known extant editions: June 6, 1868, July 4, 1868, November 7, 1868

Daily Tribune
Year established: 1898
Year discontinued: 1898 
Publication frequency: daily
History: The Daily Tribune was W. Frank Miller's second attempt to establish a daily newspaper at Weimar, his first, the Weimar Daily Gimlet, having failed some ten years earlier. The first issue was dated January 10, 1898. On October 6, 1898, the Colorado Citizen reported that the paper had been enlarged, signaling that it was enjoying some prosperity. However, a month later, on November 10, 1898, the Citizen noted that because of Miller's failing health, the Tribune had suspended publication.
Notable publishers and/or editors: W. Frank Miller
Known extant editions: January 10, 1898

Die Deutsche Warte
Year established: 1896?
Year discontinued: 1896? 
Publication frequency: unknown
History: According to an item from the Hallettsville Herald that was reprinted in the Colorado Citizen of October 29, 1896, a German-language newspaper called Die Deutsche Warte [The German Beacon] was to be published at Hallettsville and Columbus beginning around November 15, 1896. It is not know if any issue of the paper was ever printed.
Known extant editions: none

Eagle Lake Advertiser
Year established: 1896
Year discontinued: 1908
Publication frequency: weekly
History: The Weimar Mercury of September 19, 1896 reports that the Eagle Lake Advertiser, with William R. Kinard as editor and publisher, had recently begun publication. The Colorado Citizen quotes its first item from the Advertiser in its edition of September 10, 1896. A history of Eagle Lake newspapers published in the Eagle Lake Headlight on April 5, 1913 states that the Advertiser was the lineal descendent of the Colorado Democrat, which suspended publication in the summer of 1896. However, no contemporaneous newspaper links the two. It is possible that Kinard bought the press and equipment of the Colorado Democrat and used it to start the Advertiser. In late May or early June 1898, Ernst Goeth, the editor of the Schulenburg Sticker, and William B. Crebbs, bought the Advertiser. Goeth continued with the Sticker and Crebbs ran the Advertiser on a daily basis. In November 1898, a man named Blasingame bought the paper and took over as editor. He was succeeded by W. R. King. In November 1900, Millard C. Yates, who had been running the New Ulm News, bought the Advertiser from King and assumed the editor's chair. On March 10, 1908, he sold it to Bruce Williamson McCarty, the owner and editor of the Eagle Lake Headlight, who merged it into his newspaper.
Notable publishers and/or editors: William R. Kinard, William B. Crebbs, ? Blasingame, W. R. King, Millard C. Yates
Known extant editions: April 30, 1904

Eagle Lake Canoe
Year established: 1888
Year discontinued: 1894 
Publication frequency: weekly 
History: The Colorado Citizen of April 5, 1888 reports that the first issue of the Eagle Lake Canoe was published on Saturday, May 31, 1888. Initially, the paper was owned by C. L. Lehmann and H. Alston Ivy, and edited by Ivy and Joseph Jefferson Mansfield. According to a history of Eagle Lake newspapers published in the April 5, 1913 edition of the Eagle Lake Headlight, Mansfield bought the paper from Lehmann and Ivy, then sold it to J. L. Goodman, who, in the summer of 1889, sold it back to Mansfield, who, in turn, in March 1890 sold it to William Thomas Eldridge. The Citizen of November 8, 1888 notes that Goodman had taken over the Canoe. A statement by Mansfield in the August 25, 1911 Citizen confirms that he sold the paper to Eldridge. The 1913 Headlight history also reports that a man named Adams, William R. Kinard, and Gus D. Eldridge served as editor sometime after W. T. Eldridge bought the paper. A report in the Citizen of June 15, 1893 states that Kinard had recently become editor. His predecessor in the editor's office is identified as "Pitts." The man called "Gus D. Eldridge" in the Headlight history was probably Gus D. Ulrich, who was associated in business with W. T. Eldridge for the last thirty or forty years of Eldridge's life. The Canoe went out of business in August 1894. To quote the Weimar Mercury of August 11, 1894, "The Eagle Lake Canoe has ceased to float, as glory was a breeze not strong enough to keep it going." 
Notable publishers and/or editors: H. Alston Ivy, Joseph Jefferson Mansfield, J. L. Goodman, William Thomas Eldridge, William R. Kinard
Known extant editions: October 3, 1888, September 9, 1893

Eagle Lake Headlight
Year established: 1903
Publication frequency: weekly
History: Bruce Williamson McCarty began his career in the newspaper business in late 1894 or early 1895, shortly after his sixteenth birthday, when he and his brother, Armstaid Mason McCarty, established a small, amateurish, weekly they called The Headlight in Eagle Lake. Extrapolating from the only known extant edition (November 13, 1895, volume 1, number 50), we can guess that the first issue came out on December 5, 1894. Twice in later years, Bruce McCarty claimed that the paper was published for more than three years, but the August 19, 1896 issue of Weimar Mercury contains a report that it had suspended publication. McCarty got back into the business in 1903, when he and another of his older brothers, Stephen Oldham McCarty, established the Eagle Lake Headlight. The first issue came out on March 27, 1903. In February 1904, Bruce McCarty bought his brother's interest in the paper. On October 11, 1917, a fire so damaged the newspaper's offices that no issue was produced for over a month. The first post-fire issue came out on November 17, 1917. McCarty sold the paper in 1922, when his health failed. However, he bought it back the next year. 
Notable publishers and/or editors: Bruce Williamson McCarty, Floyd Alvin Norman, Dan Stafford Taylor, Ella E. Lane, Lottie Lula McCarty, Ottillia K. Kearney, Aleene Smith, Fred Richard Frnka, Fred George Frnka, John F. Fearing, Jeannine Lucille Fearing, Doug Beal
Known extant editions: May 1, 1903 through December 22, 1906, January 12, 1907 through April 27, 1912, June 1, 1912 through the present

Free Politician
Year established: 1882
Year discontinued: c. 1882
Publication frequency: weekly 
History: The first issue of Free Politician was issued April 15, 1882. The last known mention of the paper, albeit under the name Columbus Politician, is in the Colorado Citizen of October 26, 1882. No announcement of its demise has been found. Until 2008, when Lynn Hughes of Houston notified the library that he had a copy of a single issue of the Free Politician, no issues were known to be extant. 
Notable publishers and/or editors: Leroy Lamotte Beach
Known extant editions: June 17, 1882

Garwood Enterprise
Year established: c. 1902
Year discontinued: c. 1902
Publication frequency: unknown
History: This newspaper is known only from two items quoted from it in the Weimar Mercury, one in the issue of February 17, 1902 and the other in that of May 17, 1902. No other mention of the paper has been encountered.
Known extant editions: none

Garwood Express
Year established: 1911
Year discontinued: c. 1915
Publication frequency: weekly
History: Extrapolating from the earliest known extant edition (Friday, October 24, 1913, volume 3, number 51), we can guess that the first issued was published on September 29, 1911. Unfortunately, the numbering of later editions does not agree with that date, nor do two other bits of evidence. First, the January 1, 1915 edition states that the paper was established on September 7, 1911. There must be some doubt about that date, however, because it was a Thursday and all known extant editions were published on Fridays. The paper's second editor may have derived the date from the fact, given on the masthead of every extant edition, that it was on September 7, 1911 that the paper was entered as second class matter at the post office. Secondly, on August 12, 1911, the Eagle Lake Headlight announced that the Express would begin publication "in the next week or so," making an early September date more likely than one in late September. Complicating things further, the Express did not issue an edition during the week of Christmas each year. It is not clear how this skipped week affected the numbering system. It is not known when the paper ceased publication. The last known extant edition was issued January 22, 1915.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Charles Mrazek, J. E. Choate
Known extant editions: October 24, 1913, November 7, 1913, January 30, 1914, March 6, 1914, March 20 through April 10, 1914, May 1, 1914, May 8, 1914, May 22, 1914, May 29, 1914, June 26, 1914, July 10, 1914, July 17, 1914, July 31, 1914, August 7, 1914, August 28, 1914, September 11, 1914, September 18, 1914, November 6 through November 27, 1914, December 11, 1914, December 18, 1914, January 1, 1915, January 22, 1915

Occasional
Year established: 1879
Year discontinued: 1879
Publication frequency: occasionally
History: The Occasional was editor and publisher Gail Borden Johnson's first venture into the newspaper business. The first issue came out on or around January 23, 1879, the last before Johnson began publishing the Columbus Plaindealer in June 1879.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Gail Borden Johnson 
Known extant editions: none

Provident City Times
Year established: 1911
Year discontinued: c. 1911 
Publication frequency: weekly 
History: The Eagle Lake Headlight of April 1, 1911 announces the publication of the first issue of the Provident City Times, and gives the editor's name as H. E. Clinkscales. The Headlight quotes an item from the Times in its edition of May 20, 1911. No other mention of the paper has been located.
Notable publishers and/or editors: H. E. Clinkscales
Known extant editions: none

Rock Island Enterprise
Year established: 1906
Year discontinued: 1910 
Publication frequency: weekly
History: Two different items in the Weimar Mercury of February 17, 1906 announced that the first issue of the Rock Island Enterprise, with Caslas E. Campana as proprietor,  was to be published on February 16, 1906. An item quoted from the new paper in the next edition of the Mercury (February 24, 1906) confirms that the first issue of the Enterprise had been published. By October 1910, the Enterprise was edited by A. T. Norman. That month, the paper was purchased by and merged into the Colorado Citizen. For a time thereafter, the Citizen contained a page devoted to news from Rock Island.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Caslas E. Campana, A. T. Norman
Known extant editions: none

Rock Island Journal
Year established: 1897
Year discontinued: c. 1900
Publication frequency: weekly
History: According to an item in the Colorado Citizen of March 11, 1897, the first issue of the Rock Island Journal was published on March 5, 1897. The Citizen had announced on February 18, 1897 that Albert D. Rust would be the Rock Island newspaper's editor and proprietor. The last discovered reference to the Journal is an item quoted from it in the Citizen of December 21, 1899. It was almost certainly out of business by May 8, 1903, when the Eagle Lake Headlight reported that the Journal's building had been rented to a meat market.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Albert D. Rust 
Known extant editions: none

Rock Island Record
Year established: 1903
Year discontinued: c. 1903
Publication frequency: weekly
History: A notice in the October 16, 1903 issue of the Eagle Lake Headlight noted the publication of the first issue of the Rock Island Record ("The initial number ... reached our office last Friday afternoon." The last discovered mention of the paper is in the Weimar Mercury of October 24, 1903, which quoted a news item from it.
Notable publishers and/or editors: W. W. Eatman
Known extant editions: none

Round About
Year established: unknown
Year discontinued: unknown 
Publication frequency: unknown
History: The Round About is mentioned as an early Weimar newspaper by a writer who styled himself "Pioneer of Weimar" and whose brief review of Weimar's history appeared in the inaugural issue (January 10, 1898) of the Daily Tribune. No other mention of the paper has been found.
Notable publishers and/or editors: unknown
Known extant editions: none

Sunset News
Year established: 1927
Year discontinued: c. 1928
Publication frequency: weekly
History: According to an item in the Colorado County Citizen of October 27, 1927, the first issue of the Sunset News, a weekly newspaper published in Glidden, came out on October 25, 1927. The Citizen stated that Thomas L. Shannon was manager of the paper, and that it had an editorial board of Shannon, Nattalee Shannon, Virgie Holmes, Leonard F. Frisbie, Rose Pfeifer, Bernice Becica, Jennie Moore, and Esther Foster. According to Becica, the last four were school children who had little, if any, real involvement with the paper. Thomas Shannon was the principal of the local school and his wife, Nattalee, and Holmes were teachers. Frisbie, the only person listed who was not involved with the school, was the local Baptist minister. Despite its association with the school and the presence of students on the editorial board, the paper was professionally produced. It was printed in Columbus at the Citizen office. Dorothy Jean Heine, on page 54 of her book Come Reminisce With Me: A History of Glidden, Texas, reproduces the front page of an edition of the Sunset News, but the reproduction is not clear enough to reveal the date of the paper. That edition may still be extant, but neither it nor any other has been located. Heine later refers to a 1928 edition (p. 55), suggesting that the paper lasted at least a few months. No mention of its demise has yet been found, though, according to Becica, it lasted no more than two years. The Sunset News took its name from the name of the Southern Pacific Railroad's route through Glidden, the Sunset Route.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Thomas L. Shannon
Known extant editions: none

Weimar Daily Gimlet
Year established: 1887
Year discontinued: 1888
Publication frequency: daily except Sundays
History: The paper was established under the name Weimar Daily Informer by Henry Columbus Quin and W. Frank Miller in July 1887. The prospectus declared that the first issue would be published July 4, 1887. In mid August 1887, Miller sold his part of the paper to Quin, who at that time was editor of the weekly Weimar Gimlet, and he changed the name to Weimar Daily Gimlet. The daily paper was suspended in September 1887, but resumed in October. It finally discontinued publication early in 1888. The last known issue is dated March 10, 1888.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Henry Columbus Quin, W. Frank Miller
Known extant editions: August 12, 1887, August 26, 1887, August 27, 1887, August 30, 1887, August 31, 1887, September 5, 1887, September 7, 1887, November 4, 1887, November 8, 1887, November 14, 1887, November 16, 1887, December 26, 1887, January 5, 1888, January 16, 1888, January 21, 1888, January 23, 1888, January 24, 1888, January 25, 1888, January 27, 1888, January 31, 1888, February 2, 1888, February 3, 1888, February 6, 1888, February 13, 1888, February 20, 1888, February 21, 1888, February 24, 1888, February 25, February 27, 1888, February 28, 1888, February 29, 1888, March 2, 1888, March 8, 1888, March 9, 1888, March 10, 1888

Weimar Daily Informer (see Weimar Daily Gimlet)

Weimar Gimlet
Year established: 1885
Year discontinued: 1888
Publication frequency: weekly
History: The first issue, with Jason Hodges as owner and editor, was published on May 29, 1885. Later that year, Hodges hired Henry Columbus Quin as editor. The paper's shop foreman, W. Frank Miller, writing in 1937, remembered that in the paper's early days, it was on such shaky financial footing that it nearly failed. It survived only because the citizens of Weimar threw a benefit, known as the Grand Gimlet Ball, and because the owner, Hodges, did not have a wife to support. The Gimlet went out of business in December 1888. (See also Weimar Daily Gimlet)
Notable publishers and/or editors: Jason Hodges, Henry Columbus Quin
Known extant editions: June 4, 1885, June 19 through August 6, 1885, August 20 through October 15, 1885, October 29 through November 12, 1885, December 3, 1885 through April 8, 1886, April 22, 1886, May 6, 1886, May 20 through June 3, 1886, June 17, 1886 through January 20, 1887, February 3 through February 17, 1887, March 2 through May 26, 1887, June 2 through August 18, 1887, September 1, 1887, September 15 through December 22, 1887, January 12 through May 10, 1888, May 31 through September 12, 1888, September 27, 1888, October 11 through November 15, 1888

Weimar Mercury
Year established: 1888
Publication frequency: weekly
History: The newspaper was established by Benjamin Marshall Baker and John Henry Brooks, who purchased the equipment of the Weimar Gimlet in December 1888. The first issue is dated December 20, 1888. Baker was also owner and editor of the Colorado Citizen, and he found himself unable to meet the demands of issuing two newspapers each week, so he sold his part of the Mercury to Brooks a few weeks after it was established.
Notable publishers and/or editors: Benjamin Marshall Baker, John Henry Brooks, Ernst Goeth, Robert Hill Yoder, James Robert "Buddy" Yoder, Bruce Beal
Known extant editions:

Weimar Plaindealer
Year established: 1880
Year discontinued:1880 
Publication frequency: weekly
History: Apparently the first newspaper published in Weimar, the Weimar Plaindealer was established by Henry Columbus Quin. Quin purchased the Columbus Plaindealer in late 1879 and moved it to Weimar in February 1880. The paper failed that July, and Quin sold the press to two Columbus attorneys, who used it to establish the second incarnation of the Columbus Times.
Notable publishers and/or editors:
 Henry Columbus Quin
Known extant editions: none