The Iola Register’s connection to Iola — 150 years and counting — will be celebrated Wednesday at Allen Community College.
The college will host a meet-and-greet starting at 1:30 p.m. in the ACC library. Refreshments will be served.
Also on hand will be representatives from the Kansas Press Association to discuss the importance of community journalism.
“We hope to see a lot of community come out, because it’s quite a deal — not only for a newspaper to be in business for 150 years — but for the fact it’s family-owned,” noted Bruce Symes, director of Allen’s Writing Center and a former Register reporter.
Having a family-owned publication versus one owned by a chain often impacts how community events are covered, Symes notes.
“Having local ownership means you have an owner who cares about a community,” Symes said. “This is not only a feather in their cap, but a big advantage for us as a community.”
Symes worked as the Register’s wire editor from 1986 until moving to the college in 2008.
Among the audience members will be several Allen journalism students.
“We want our kids to see the importance of community journalism,” he said.
IOLA’S history dates back to 1859, when a group of country folk decided to get together and set up a small hamlet along the banks of the Neosho River, filled with wide streets and its iconic four-block downtown square.
Less than a decade later, in 1867, and with settlers still arriving in covered wagons, the community’s first newspaper — the Allen County Courant — was published as a weekly newspaper.
The Courant eventually changed its name, first to the Neosho Valley Register, then to the Iola Weekly Register, and then in 1897, when the paper decided to publish daily, the Iola Daily Register. (A short while later, the “Daily” was dropped.)
The newspaper gained early prominence in 1882, when 22-year-old Charles F. Scott, just a year out of college, took over the reins with his partners and brothers, Angelo and E.E. Rohr.
The paper has remained among Scott’s descendants ever since.
