December 25, 2018: The former (and most famous) home of the Traer Star-Clipper, downtown Traer.
“It is with extreme modesty that we take upon us the duty of editor, for we feel that its paths are not always paths of pleasantness and peace, nor its duties, duties of delightfulness; but with the help of other power which we believe will come in time, we feel safe in venturing out on the waves of the editorial sea. If we are wrong, it will only make the waves dash higher to lecture, for it is now too late — one thing that will quiet the waves is to come up now and then and encourage rather than discourage. We mean to try and run a paper that will correspond with a common person’s pocket-book — little, but lively — not only in form but in finance.”
— E.E. Taylor, Traer Star, Vol. 1, No. 1, May 1, 1878
The Traer Clipper was established in 1874; the Traer Star was founded in 1878. The Clipper building was destroyed in a fire on Christmas Eve 1878; “its proprietors though somewhat discouraged soon had new presses and material on hand.” (History of Tama County, 1879) For a few years the Clipper was half-owned by future U.S. representative and agriculture secretary James “Tama Jim” Wilson. Elmer Taylor, founder of the Star, took control of the merged Traer Star-Clipper, and he and/or his son remained in charge for a century.
Now the nameplate is fading into history. The inevitable has arrived.
Ogden Newspapers, a West Virginia company that owns all the weeklies in Tama County plus the Marshalltown Times-Republican, Fort Dodge Messenger, and Webster City Freeman-Journal, is folding six papers into three.
The Traer Star-Clipper and the Dysart Reporter are becoming the North Tama Telegraph. This would be a fine name for a paper in 1883. Today, though, it seems like an attempt to connect to a history it doesn’t have. Because the editor’s position is vacant at this time, there is no online story.
The Gladbrook Northern Sun-Print and Reinbeck Courier are becoming the Sun Courier. The Tama News-Herald and Toledo Chronicle are becoming the Tama-Toledo News Chronicle.
Just because you know something is bound to happen doesn’t make it any easier when it does. 🙁