A history of The Pilot News

PLYMOUTH — It has been 170 years since The Pilot newspaper published its first paper on April 16, 1851 so I thought I would share with you the history of what is now called the Pilot News. I encourage you to read the WHOLE story as it is a history of YOUR NEWSPAPER, YA KNOW - - SUPPORT IT! Thank You and may God Bless. OK on with the show - - Back in the days of yore, on April 15, 1851 to be exact, John Q. Howell came from Rochester (where he operated a newspaper) to Plymouth where he founded the Plymouth Pilot, a weekly paper. The offices and printing plant of the newspaper were situated where the

Rees Theatre is now. Now the Pilot News is still telling the “daily history” of Marshall County. AN INTERESTING FACT: The first edition of the Pilot was numbered 13. This was done to preserve the connection to the number of the paper Howell published in Rochester.

In about a year after The Pilot was formed Mr. Howell sold the paper to Richard Corbaley of Plymouth who changed the name to the “Plymouth Banner” and changed its politics from Democrat to Whig. SALE, SALE, SALE. The paper has been sold many times since its beginning. On July 28,1853 The Banner was sold to William J. Burns of Lafayette. On December 4,1854 it was sold to Thomas B. Thompson and then on July 28,1856 Thompson sold the paper back to Burns who then sold it to John Greer who represented the Republican Central Committee. On October 9,1856 Ignatius Mattingly of Harrison County bought the paper. Mr. Mattingly changed the name of the paper to the “Marshall County Republican”. As time, sales, and name changes went on Samuel E. Boys bought “The Plymouth Chronicle”.

THE BOYS FAMILY OWNERSHIP

Samuel Evan Boys, my grandfather, graduated from Albion College in Albion, Michigan with a law degree and was salutatorian of his class. He met his future wife, Florence Riddick, while both were at Albion College. Following their graduation the young couple got married and they set up a residence in South Bend where he hung his “lawyer shingle”. He always had a burning desire to write and maybe, he thought, someday I’ll own a newspaper. Well as time went on he got that opportunity. The following is a history about how The Pilot-news got its beginnings and the struggles it had over 117 years ago. It all began in 1902 when my grandfather bought a small weekly newspaper in Shoals, Indiana which is the county seat of Martin County. The paper was very small as it only had four pages per week.

Wanting to move to Northern Indiana, my grandfather heard of a newspaper for sale in Plymouth so he investigated the possibilities of purchasing it which he did on May 9, 1904. On May 24, 1904 my grandfather, with my grandmother and their small daughter, Beatrice, arrived in Plymouth and announced that he was the new owner and publisher of The Plymouth Chronicle. At that time Plymouth’s population was about 3,600 and there were five newspapers being published in Plymouth. They were The Daily News, Weekly Democrat, Daily Tribune, Weekly Tribune, a Republican newspaper, and The Plymouth Chronicle.

The Plymouth Chronicle, which was also a Republican paper, was started in 1902, by a group of Republicans who were not satisfied with The Tribune. The Chronicle, when my grandfather bought it, the paper was having financial and circulation problems and couldn’t keep a person to run and edit the paper. According to my grandmother’s writings, they were glad to sell the paper to a young Republican newspaperman. The paper was situated in the basement of the building on the southwest corner of Laporte and Michigan street. I think the Bee Hive variety store was also in the basement of that building. Most of us remember when that building was Rittenhouse Furniture, then Vangilder Furniture, then Muday Furniture and now the Heartland Artists occupy that building.

BUILDING UP THE PAPER

Because my grandfather was an attorney before he became a newspaper owner. I asked him one time why he didn’t stick with that vocation. He laughed and said: “well, Mike, attorneys didn’t have as much to do in those days as they have today. But, what little business I had, we did eat well as my clients then paid me in produce, meat, eggs etc.” He went on to say “I always wanted to write and serve people. That is why I bought a newspaper to give me a vehicle to do just that.” His policies and by-words of his paper is as follows: “We publish YOUR newspaper for ALL the people of this county and beyond - - fairly and clearly whether we, or they, like it or not - - That the People May Know. We often go to great trouble and expense to get the facts on some important matter” “We don’t make the news, we only report it”.

In the early days of The Chronicle my grandfather, in order to meet the people and to learn what makes the county tick, would get on his bicycle and ride through the countryside, knock on doors and talk to people. He would pick up many news stories this way and also sold subscriptions at the same time. He wasn’t afraid of hard work. Slowly the business grew as he would come home on Friday evenings tanned, thinner and tired but with ten to twenty new subscriptions and several news stories. In a few years he built up the paper with the most newspaper subscribers in the county with 1,800 subscriptions. Businessmen took notice of the many local news stories and increasing subscriptions so they supported the paper with advertising which made all of the early hard work pay off. My grandfather said to me one time: “If you take care of your subscribers and your employees - - they will take care of you”. He did this and that legacy was carried on when my aunts Eleanor and Edith and I ran the paper after his death.

With business growing he was able to buy a new press and better office equipment and in 1909 bought the vacant lot at 206 N. Michigan. Most of you will remember that is where the Model Pharmacy was. Fernbaugh’s Jewelry now occupies that building. In 1910 my grandfather began a daily newspaper.

CHANGES NAME OF NEWSPAPER

In 1911 The Chronicle bought The Tribune from William G. Hendricks for $7,500 along with the subscription list. The names “Chronicle” and “The Tribune” were dropped and the paper was given the new name of “The Plymouth Republican”. It then became known as the daily Republican newspaper of Marshall County. My grandfather kept the newer Cottrell press which came with the purchase of The Tribune and sold the Potter press to the Bremen Enquirer.

CORPORATION FORMED

Being an attorney he formed an incorporated business in 1920 under one of the laws of Indiana. The corporation was called The Plymouth Republican Company. The common stock was recorded and the company was authorized to sell preferred stock which paid 7% to the stockholders.

THE PAPER GROWS

The paper grew and grew and it was time for expansion as the building no longer was able to house the business so o o o my grandfather looked for another place to build a modern new building. In February of 1920 he purchased two lots at 113 – 115 West Garro Street from John Mcfarlin and Jesse E. Beyler for $4,000.

The former newspaper building was sold back to its original owner C.A. Reeve and work began on the new two-story brick building on Garro Street. The cost of the new building was $26,000. The name “The Pilot” was set in mortar on the front of the building. There were four apartments on the second floor and the basement housed the press and paper storage and the furnace. On the first floor there was plenty of space for the business office, news and subscription departments and an office for my grandfather. Behind the office wall was the mechanical department where the paper was “put to bed” along with a job printing area. The paper made its move into the new building in June of 1922. My dad told me that when he was 15 years old he helped move by bringing the type cases and other furniture on a small flat wagon.

NEW PRESS FOR THE NEW BUILDING

With the new building on Garro Street almost complete the next project was to buy a new press on which the newspaper is printed. My grandfather was one to do research before acting s o o o o during his research for a new press he decided to go with a Goss Comet press. It had the capacity of printing eight pages at one time. It was a flat-bed press which means that the page chases in which the type was placed slid onto the press’s flat-bed and the paper was printed directly from the type. In later years an indirect type of printing was perfected.

CHANGING THE NAME BACK TO THE PILOT

It was on June 27, 1922 when my grandfather changed the name of the Weekly Republican to The Plymouth Daily Pilot. It was at this time that the weekly newspaper was discontinued. All of the weekly subscribers were placed on the daily subscription list and were credited to the time of their paid subscription at no extra cost. He thought that the Weekly Republican was not a good name for a paper that wanted to serve ALL the people of Marshall County. The reason he chose Pilot was because the first newspaper in Marshall County to be published was called the Pilot. He also changed the name of the company from “The Plymouth Republican” to “The Pilot Company Inc.” My grandfather was president and my grandmother vice-president.

SECRETARY NAMED FOR THE PILOT COMPANY

In 1932 my father Alfred R. Boys was named to the board of directors and elected secretary of the company. My father was a 1926 graduate of Plymouth Lincoln High School, graduate of Indiana University with a degree in business. He grew up in the newspaper business starting as a newspaper carrier, worked in several departments and then moved up the ladder. I also grew up with the business starting as a carrier, mail room, production department, advertising department, news room, circulation etc. Hey, let’s get back to the story - - My dad took on a larger and larger role in management and developing the business which allowed my grandfather and grandmother to travel more. My dad was then named business manager.

EGG DAYS

The Pilot News was always there guiding the way when things got tough. People depended on the paper for the news and advertising - - keeping them informed. The paper did its part to help the people of Marshall County to get through the rough times. For example: During the depression and again during WWII. The Pilot News offered many free services through its news and classified columns to its readers. The Pilot also helped by maintaining circulation by organizing what was called “Egg Days”.

I do remember that event during WW II, but at that time I didn’t realize what it was all about. It all began during the great depression when my grandfather started what he called “The Pilot Company Egg Days”. The idea was to maintain the circulation to help the local retail businesses. The people WANTED the paper, but they didn’t have any money to subscribe so he made it very affordable for them.

OK, here is how it worked . . . . Most people back then had chickens so he bartered by having the people bring their eggs to the Pilot office. They were given a receipt on their subscription amounting to the market price PLUS five cents per dozen for all the eggs they brought to the newspaper office. They could subscribe for one month, six months or for a year. Most people had enough eggs for a year’s subscription and some even made money. The customers were happy, the egg market was happy, the merchants were happy and the Pilot family was happy. This went on from 1930 until 1945. An average of 50,744 eggs was transacted during the two-day event each year for 15 years.

BUYING THE COMPETING NEWSPAPERS IN PLYMOUTH

In October of 1940 The Pilot Company bought the Daily News and Weekly Democrat from Clay Metsker for $25,000. The Weekly Democrat was discontinued on January 1, 1941. The Pilot Company then, according to the agreement of the sale, published two separate newspapers: The Plymouth Daily Pilot, a Republican newspaper and The Plymouth Daily News, a Democrat paper. They also had to have a Democrat editor. The only difference in the two papers was the front page and the editorial page. The term of the agreement was for six years. In June of 1947 the two papers merged and it was then called The Plymouth Pilot-news.

A PROFIT SHARING PLAN CREATED

My grandfather and my dad always wanted to do something for the loyal employees so The Pilot Company voted to allow a profit sharing plan to all full time employees who had worked for the company for one year to be eligible for the net profit sharing. Ten percent of the profit was set aside for improvements in building and the purchase of new machinery or expansion of the business. This was a great morale booster for the employees. The employees, knowing this, would work hard to help bring a profit to the company and they would be compensated for that hard work. My dad always said “if you take care of your employees and your readers - - they will take care of you”. That is one reason The Pilot Company was successful - - they cared for Marshall County.

WIRE SERVICE ADDED

Another part of growing for a daily newspaper was a wire service so in 1942 United Press (as it was called then and later was called United Press International) was installed in the news room which would not only report state news but news of the United States and all over the world - - and it was already typed. Wow! What an addition to the newspaper. Before this new kind of service it was called a “pony service” where the news was reported by telephone and the editor, or someone who could type fast, would have to listen to what news he/she would like for the newspaper and then type it out with a typewriter. I can hear my grandfather and dad saying “wow! what won’t they think of next”? This was a wonderful step forward and the Pilot-news always pushing forward - - giving unbiased news.

NEED FOR A NEW PRESS

In 1946 the paper was growing and growing in circulation and the old Goss Comet press was just too slow. The company already knew how reliable the Goss presses were so they researched to see which of the Goss presses would do the work based on the current and future circulation. They decided on a Goss Uni-tube rotary press. In June of 1947 the new press was installed. There were four units which could print four pages each therefore could print sixteen pages at one time. Another advantage of the new press - - it could print in color! WOW! Another major improvement. The Pilot-news always moving forward.

Because of the expansion of the paper the company had to make a decision. They had to make room for the new equipment so the job printing plant had to be sold. They sold the job printing to Robert Bowen, a veteran of WWII, who was employed to work in that job printing plant before the war and was re-hired after the war to run the job printing shop. Bob moved the job printing plant to the basement of a house on North Center Street.

It became necessary for the Pilot Company to enlarge the building to accommodate the new equipment and remodeling program. The Pilot Company bought a small piece of ground (10’ x 44’) at the rear of the building from the United Telephone Company for $500. An elevator was installed; the basement was re-arranged for the new press, plate finishing room, mail room, newsprint storage room and a dark room so they could process their own photographs. In August 31, 1950 The Pilot Company bought a Fairchild Electroengraving machine and for the first time was able to have photos appear in the paper within a few hours after they were taken. Another major step forward. Before