Extra! Extra! A History of Waukon's Newspapers

Over the past 150 years there have been a number of newspapers in Waukon. The first newspaper in town was the Waukon Journal, started in 1857. The newspaper was not much more than several sheets of paper with printed news columns, as was the case with many of the frontier papers of the day. It was "free-soil" in political affiliation, meaning that the newspaper did not favor one political party over another. Today, political affiliation of a newspaper means very little to nearly all but the most prominent newspapers in the country. However, in the days when the local newspaper was the only source of news and information, political affiliation was often very important.

Just nine months after the paper was started, it was sold to a Mr. Frank Pease. Pease renamed the paper the Allamakee Herald and made it a Democratically affiliated publication. The first issue was printed on February 26, 1858 and was discontinued less than one year later when Pease moved out of Waukon in 1859.

The next newspaper in Waukon was started by T.H. McElroy. Called the Waukon Transcript, McElroy published the paper in Waukon for one year. He then moved his operation to Lansing and renamed the newspaper the Northwestern Democrat.

The next Waukon newspaper was the North Iowa Republican, published by E.C. Babbitt and W.H. Merrill. Like its predecessors, the North Iowa Republican was very short lived, lasting only one or two years.

The first edition of the Waukon Standard was published on January 9, 1868. The Standard's first publisher, Charles McDonald, published the newspaper for only three months before he sold it to R.L. Hayward and A.M. May later that year. The Standard would be the first successful newspaper in Waukon, and becoming a staple of local life. A.M. May, the editor of the newspaper, was very influential in bringing national interest to the iron mines and also played a part in other local political and social issues of the time.

Daniel O'Brien started the Waukon Democrat in 1879. The newspaper then changed hands several times until it was acquired by M.A. Potter in 1898. Potter changed the Democrat's name to the Waukon Republican and, with it, he changed it to a Republican newspaper.

A year later the Democrat saw new light thanks to Edgar F. Medary. The newspaper continued to operate until it was merged with the Republican-Standard years later.

From 1899 to 1919, there were three weekly newspapers in Waukon. This number was reduced to two when the Republican and Standard merged to become the Waukon Republican-Standard in 1919.

For 26 years the Democrat and Republican-Standard published weekly papers in Waukon. In fact, the offices for the two newspapers were only a few doors apart. Both were headquartered on Allamakee Street.

In 1946, Leslie and Louis Hull of Waverly bought both the Democrat and Republican-Standard. The two newspapers, who had been long time rivals due to competing market and political swaying, now moved in together into one building. The Democrat's old headquarters on Allamakee street housed both papers for years. This location is now Leschensky Insurance.

In 1991 the two newspapers merged further to become the Waukon Standard, which is published weekly at its current office on First Street NW.