We’re movin’ on up … to Highland Park
Offices for the Siloam Springs Herald-Leader will open at a new location — 151 U.S. Highway 412, Suite B, in Highland Park Shopping Center — on Thursday.
The newspaper’s current building, located at 101 N. Mt. Olive St. in downtown Siloam Springs, went up for sale in March and the sale is scheduled to be finalized on Monday.
The new office in Highland Park Shopping Center will house the newsroom, advertising and business staff. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Herald-Leader, Siloam Sunday and Neighbor Shopper have been printed off site for many years.
“We are leaving behind years and years of history from the Herald-Leader building in downtown Siloam Springs,” said Herald Leader managing editor Graham Thomas. “From its days as a car dealership to its time as a newspaper office, this building has been a part of the ever-changing downtown area and is very wellknown in our community. Now it will have a chance to serve our community in a different role in the years to come.
“We are looking forward to serving the Siloam Springs community out of our new location. While our location is changing, our commitment to our readers and costumers remains strong.”
Over the years, the Herald Leader building on North Mt. Olive Street has served as a car dealership, an upholstery business and finally as a newspaper office, according to Don Warden, director of the Siloam Springs Museum. The earliest known picture of the building dates back to the early 1930s and depicts a parade through downtown complete with a large Ferris wheel. In the photo, the sign on the building reads “Miller Motor Co. Used Cars,” and the building has a gas pump outside. Miller Motor Co., is also listed in the 1936 and 1937 phone books, without an address, Warden said.
By 1946, the phone book shows the Herald-Leader building was home to Reed Motor Co.
According to the ad in the phone book, the Reed Motor Co. sold DodgePlymouth Cars and Dodge trucks, plus offered auto repair and wrecker service, Warden said. By the time the 1948 phone book was published, Bynum & Jones Motor Co. had taken over the business with the same brands and services, and continued to be listed in the 1950, 1951, 1952 and 1955 phone books.
In 1957, the phone book shows that Bynum & Jones Motor Co. moved to East Main Street and there is no other business listed at 101 N. Mt. Olive Street, Warden said. A 1961 Sanborn map shows that an unnamed upholstery business was occupying the Herald-Leader building, Warden said.
The Herald-Leader came into existence in 1991, when the HeraldDemocrat and the News Leader merged into one paper, according to a 2001 newspaper article. The News Leader staff relocated and operated the Herald-Leader from the Herald-Democrat offices at 101 N. Mt. Olive St., the article states. The first edition of the HeraldLeader was published on Sept. 4, 1991.