About

Douglas Wikle and Theodore M. Smith published the first issue of the Cartersville American in May 1882 in Cartersville, Georgia. The weekly newspaper supported the Democratic Party and circulated at a subscription cost of $1.50 per year. The paper was largely unchanged until January 1887 when it merged with the recently-established Cartersville Courant. According to the January 16, 1887 issue of the Americus Daily Recorder, the Courant and American merged because ‘Cartersville furnishes too limited a field for the succesful (sic) maintenance of two first class newspapers.’ The consolidation was arranged by Alex M. Willingham, an editor of the Cartersville Courant, who bought the Courant from then owner Frank J. Taylor. The Courant published Bartow County’s legal advertisements, and that responsibility followed the paper with the merger. Wikle and Willingham managed the Courant-American until July 12, 1888, when they announced the sale of the paper in a valedictory editorial. In that same July issue, Elam Christian, a prolific Georgia newspaper editor, and D. B. Freeman introduced themselves as the new proprietors. Christian’s tenure was short-lived, but D. B. Freeman remained associated with the paper for the next 29 years. A. M. Willingham returned to work as an associate editor in 1889, and assisted until H. A. Chapman replaced him in 1892. The Courant-American faced limited local competition until 1896 when the News Publishing Company founded the Cartersville News. In 1901, That stock company, headed by J. W. Vaughan, bought out the Courant-American and consolidated the paper with the Cartersville News to form the News and Courant; shortly after the titles merged, the stock company altered its name to the Cartersville Publishing Company. The company appointed H. A. Chapman, D. B. Freeman, and A. M. Willingham as editors, and this arrangement continued until 1904. On June 9, 1904, the North Georgia Citizen posted a notice dated from June 2 which announced ‘J. (Jim) A. Hall of the Calhoun Times has purchased the (Cartersville News and Courant) plant from the stockholders and will move his family from Calhoun.’ Hall retained Chapman and Freeman as editors of the News and Courant so that he could split his time between Calhoun and Cartersville. On October 13, 1904, the paper’s title became the Cartersville News, which did not change until it merged with the Bartow Tribune in April 1917. The newspaper continues to serve as Bartow County’s legal organ today as the Herald-Tribune.