Talking News - Articles From The Messenger

The Messenger of Fort Dodge, Iowa came into existence as the Fort Dodge Sentinel on July 31, 1856 as a weekly poetry and prose publication. Selling for $2 per copy, The Sentinel had a circulation of 1,200 at the time. In 1868, the name changed to The Fort Dodge Republican and increased its size to eight pages. In 1874, the name changed once again to Iowa Northwest to reflect the expanded coverage of the newspaper. In fact, the publication at the time was the only newspaper between Sioux City, Iowa and Fort Dodge. In 1884, the newspaper went daily as the population and news in the Fort Dodge region increased. In 1917, the newspaper merged with The Chronicle, another Fort Dodge newspaper, and the name became The Fort Dodge Messenger and Chronicle. In later years, the "Chronicle" title was dropped and the newspaper was officially known as The Fort Dodge Messenger. In 1963, The Messenger was purchased by Ogden Newspapers of Wheeling, West Virginia, a newspaper group with more than 40 newspaper holdings. In 2006 The Messenger celebrated its 150th anniversary.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia