About

Captain Augustus McHan, with the aid of his sixteen year old son E. A. McHan, established Lafayette's first newspaper, the Walker County Messenger, on July 27th, 1877. E. A. McHan was the youngest publisher in the South at that time. In its first year, the Messenger was a six column, four page Democratic paper that sold for a yearly subscription of one dollar. The paper would serve as the legal organ for not only Walker County but also Chattooga, Catoosa, and Dade counties until those regions founded their own newspapers. The McHans relinquished ownership in 1880 when Nathan Campbell Napier purchased the Messenger presses; the junior McHan stayed on as foreman. E. A. McHan and Mr. Napier's son George M. Napier briefly leased the paper until Mr. Napier returned as owner and editor in 1886. After N. C. Napier's death in 1902, the Napier estate continued to publish the paper with N. C. Napier Jr. as editor until 1915. Napier Jr. sold his half of the Messenger to E. P. Hall in October of 1915; The Hall family maintained ownership until 1977, when the family of E.P. Hall sold the paper to the Boone Publishing Company. Today, the Walker County Messenger continues to serve the citizens of LaFayette under the ownership of the Times-Journal Inc.