Grit (newspaper)
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Grit was a newspaper founded in 1882 as the Saturday edition of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Daily Sun and Banner. In 1885, the name was purchased for $1000 by 25-year-old German immigrant Dietrick Lamade, who established a circulation of 4000 during the first year.
Born February 6, 1859, in Gölshausen, Germany, Lamade was one of nine children of Johannes Dietrick and Caroline Stuepfle Lamade. After the family moved to Williamsport in 1867, Johannes died of typhoid fever January 1, 1869. To support the family, Dietrick, his sister and older brothers quit school. At age ten, Dietrick began working as an errand boy, earning a weekly salary of $3 in the office of a local German-language weekly, Beobachter (literally Observer), when he was 13 years old.
At 18, Lamade began printing theater programs and a four-page ad brochure, the Merchants' Free Press. In the summer of 1880, he did Camp News for the Pennsylvania National Guard, and he married the following year. In 1882, Lamade became the ad compositor and assistant composing room foreman for the Daily Sun and Banner, and that same year, Grit began as the paper's Saturday edition, typeset by Lamade. He left the Daily Sun in 1884 to launch the weekly Times as a daily, but finances and the health of the owner led the Times to cease publication. With two children and no job, 25-year-old Lamade became a publisher. Teaming with two partners, he bought the Times equipment and the Grit name. During his first year, he increased Grit's circulation to 4000. He operated from a third-floor single room, moving down to a storefront location in 1886, establishing a weekly circulation of 20,000 by 1887.
With rapid expansion, a horse-drawn wagon of Remington typewriters was delivered to the Grit offices in 1892. Displaying news and features aimed at rural America, Grit climbed to a weekly circulation of 100,000 by 1900, following an editorial policy outlined by Lamade during a banquet for Grit's employees:
- Always keep Grit from being pessimistic. Avoid printing those things which distort the minds of readers or make them feel at odds with the world. Avoid showing the wrong side of things, or making people feel discontented. Do nothing that will encourage fear, worry or temptation... Wherever possible, suggest peace and good will toward men. Give our readers courage and strength for their daily tasks. Put happy thoughts, cheer and contentment into their hearts.
Introducing such innovations as national newsboy delivery and direct mail, Lamade eventually parlayed his weekly into one of America's biggest and most enduring national publications, featuring news, human interest articles, comic strips (sometimes filling ten pages), puzzles and serials in fiction supplements("Grit Story Section"). Circulation reached 300,000 in 1916.
A familiar newspaper in small towns across the United States for over a century, Grit became a national institution. By the time of its 50th anniversary in 1932, 400,000 people bought the newspaper each week. That number had increased to 500,000 by 1934. Lamade, who retired in 1936, died in 1938, and his son, George Lamade, became the editor with grandson Howard Lamade, Jr. serving as Grit's production manager. Grit went to a tabloid format in 1944. Mike Rafferty, a former Williamsport mayor (2000-2003), also was an editor of Grit.
During the first three-quarters of the 20th Century, Grit was sold across the country by children and teenagers, many recruited by ads in comic books during the 1940s and 1950s. During the 1950s, approximately 30,000 boys collected dimes from more than 700,000 American small town homes. Charlie Walker, writing in the February 16, 2000 edition of The News (Kingstree, South Carolina), described a typical issue of the 1950s:
- A few weeks ago, Leo Barrineau, who lives at Barrineaus Crossroads, gave me a call. His son Steve, while remodeling the church at Broad Swamp, had discovered a 1956 Grit newspaper in the walls of the church. When it comes to old newspapers, old pictures, and old phonograph records, I don't need Viagra to turn me on. This Grit was published January 1, 1956. It contained 40 pages and cost a dime. So hop aboard the Twilight Zone Express. Put your memory in reverse, and together, we will remember the way it was. The back page of this 44-year-old newspaper recalled the dramatic events of 1955. The polio vaccine was developed by Dr. Jonas Salk. President Eisenhower suffered a heart attack. The first atomic-powered submarine, the Nautilus, was launched. In 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. Oklahoma was the #1 college football team in the land.
- Bennett Cerf wrote a column for Grit. The funnies included Blondie, Joe Palooka, the Lone Ranger, Donald Duck and Henry. There was a crossword puzzle and a serial, a murder mystery called, Tell Her It's Murder. This copy of Grit contained the 29th and final chapter. The first Grit of 1956 also contained predictions for the upcoming year. The unicycle would be the number one sport in the summer of 1956. And the TV program that would replace The $64,000 Question would be one called Can You Trust Your Wife? And in 1956 just like today, doctors still couldn't cure the common cold. Grit carried a full-page ad offering Valentine cards for seven cents each. Grit also carried an ad for Sinclair Gasoline. (Willie Munn operated a Sinclair station at the corner of Main and Jackson streets in Kingstree.) Grit was recruiting carriers to sell their paper. You could make 4¢ for each paper you sold.
Grit was a pioneer in the introduction of offset printing. It was one of the first newspapers in the United States to run color photographs, with the first full color picture (of the American flag) appearing on the front page in June, 1963. At its peak in 1969, Grit had a total circulation of 1.5 million weekly copies.
The Lamade family owned Grit for nearly one hundred years, but in 1981 ADVO-System, Inc. of Hartford, Connecticut purchased the paper. In 1983 Grit was purchased by Stauffer Communications, Inc. of Topeka, Kansas, which already owned Capper's Weekly, a national tabloid also marketed to rural areas and small towns. In 1993, Grit left Williamsport after 111 years and moved to Topeka.
For decades Grit had published both a national edition and a local edition. The local edition was the Sunday newspaper for Williamsport and Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and was circulated in 13 other counties in north-central Pennsylvania as well. This edition stopped publication in the early 1990s (and only then did the Williamsport Sun Gazette begin producing a Sunday paper).
In 1995, the Morris Communications Corporation purchased Stauffer Communications, giving Morris a total of 32 daily newspapers in 13 states when it added Stauffer's 20 daily papers, including the Topeka Capital-Journal. Morris president Paul S. Simon said he intended to sell Stauffer's broadcast division, including 11 stations and several radio networks, and another division that included Grit, Capper's and another magazine.
In 1996, Grit was acquired by Topeka's Ogden Publications and edited by Kathryn Compton as a monthly with the subtitle "Stories of American Life & Tradition." Other Ogden Publications include American Life & Traditions, Capper's (a rural America tabloid with a 120-year history), Farm Collector, Good Things to Eat, Mother Earth News and Utne.
Beginning with the September 2006 issue, Grit converted to an all-glossy, perfect-bound magazine format and a bi-monthly schedule. The revamped editorial policy encompasses more of a contemporary rural emphasis on content, rather than the nostalgic themes of the past several years. With a print run of 150,000 and Time Warner as the national newsstand distributor. Grit is now displayed and sold at general newsstand outlets, bookstores and speciality farm feed and supply stores, including Tractor Supply.
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[edit] References
Auken, Robin Van and Hunsinger, Jr., Louis E. Williamsport: The Grit Photograph Collection. Arcadia, 2004. One title in Arcadia's Images of America series.
Larson, Robert H., Morris, Richard J.; Piper, Jr., John F. (1984). Williamsport: Frontier Village to Regional Center, first edition, Woodland Hills, California: Windsor Publications. ISBN 0-89781-110-0. “Note: Chapter eight by Joseph P. Laver, Jr. has "Grit Publishing Company" on page 180.”
