January 21, 1890 front page of Chillicothe Morning Constitution |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | GateHouse Media |
| Publisher | Rod Dixon (publisher) |
| Editor | Catherine Stortz Ripley |
| Founded | 1889 |
| Headquarters | Chillicothe, Missouri |
| Official website | Chillicothe news |
Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune is a newspaper in Chillicothe, Missouri. The paper was first published as the Chillicothe Morning Constitution from 1889 until 1930 when it became known as Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune.
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The newspaper traces its earliest origins to the Chillicothe Constitution which was founded in 1860 as a Democratic leaning newspaper. The Tribune, a Republican leaning newspaper was founded in 1868. In the 1880s the Watkins family became publishers of the Constitution. The two newspapers consolidated March 1, 1928. The Watkins family solid it in April 1972 to Inland Industries, Inc., of Lenexa, Kansas, and Smith-Walls Newspapers, Incorporated of Fort Payne, Alabama.[1] Clarence Edwin Watkins served as the publisher till his death in 1944.[2] Rod Dixon is the current publisher and Catherine Stortz Ripley is the current editor. The newspaper is currently owned by GateHouse Media.[3]
Jerry Litton visited the newspaper offices about 8:30 p.m. on August 3, 1976 to check election results in which he had won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate while he was en route to the Chillicothe airport where he was killed about 9 p.m. on takeoff to a victory party in Kansas City.[4]
On Christmas Day in 1930 a fire broke out in the office of Dr. Oma Dye, located above the newspaper offices. According to the December 26, 1930 edition of the paper two patrons were leaving a nearby theater when they saw smoke coming from the building. As the fire department was arriving on the scene Chillicothe Mayor Harry Pardonner, who was also a fireman, was thrown from the truck as the ladder broke free and swung. According to the paper the Mayor was "badly bruised" and would be confined to bed for several days. The doctor's office was a total loss while the newspaper offices were damaged by water "putting practically all of the machinery in the shop out of commission and spoiling the supply of print paper on hand." The newspaper's publishers assured their readers that every effort had been made to get that day's edition out via the old method of "setting the type by hand."