The Rogers Champion
The Rogers Champion, Rogers’ first newspaper, premiered September 2,
1881,just four months after the town’s founding. D.W. Hinman was editor and
publisher; Lottie Shockley was the “compositor” (typesetter). The paper was
a four-page, seven-column edition.
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The Rogers Champion building, 1881.
(Negative #N011841) |
Little is known about Hinman.
When he came to Rogers, through some “long forgotten quirk of politics”
(Rogers Daily News, Sept. 1, 1950), Hinman replaced J.H. Rackerby as
postmaster. The change was unpopular, especially since the post office moved
with him from Walnut to Elm Street into the building with the Champion (now
the location of Raje Design Salon). In those days, the postmaster’s salary
was based largely upon the local cancellation of stamps. Businessmen who
dislike Hinman reportedly would collect as much of the outgoing mail as
possible and mail it on the train, thus denying Hinman additional salary.
Just how much this opposition had to do with the final results is uncertain,
but within six months the Champion faded out of existence. The paper,
republican in politics, was replaced a month later by the Rogers New Era, a
democratic newspaper. |