About

Ben T. Brock, a well-known attorney in Trenton, Georgia, published the first issue of the State of Dade News on May 1, 1891 in Dade County. The paper’s title refers to a local legend in which Dade County never officially rejoined the Union after the Civil War; therefore, some citizens believed the county to be an independent state. Brock circulated the News every Friday at a subscription cost of one dollar per year, and he editorialized in favor of the Democratic Party. In the June 12, 1891 issue, Brock published a heated exchange between W. A. Chambers and himself in which Chambers criticized Brock’s lack of vocal support for the populist wing of the Democratic Party. Due to Dade County’s geographic isolation from the rest of Georgia, the paper’s coverage was predominantly local. However, given the most common route in and out of Dade passed through Chattanooga, Tennessee, the paper also frequently featured news items concerning that town. W. A. D. O’Neal joined Brock as a printer in 1895, and he remained associated with the News until W. D. B. Chambers acquired the paper in October 1901. In a “to the public” column in the paper’s October 18, 1901 issue, Chambers explained his plans for the News. He expanded the paper from six to seven columns (eventually reaching eight), enlarged the scope of news to include more state and national items, and changed the paper’s title to Dade County Sentinel. In 1906, Chambers moved to Rossville, Georgia to establish the New Age, and he sold out to J. B. Parham. The Sentinel was Parham’s first county-wide sheet in what went on to be a 50 year newspaper career. On November 29, 1907, Parham announced Russell F. Tatum and Jesse G. Hunt as the Sentinel’s new owners. Tatum, who had no prior newspaper experience, became the paper’s editor and Hunt served as publisher. By 1908, the paper’s title was the Dade County Times. The Tatum family owned several companies in Dade, and Russell’s interest in those businesses, as well as his burgeoning law career, resulted in a short tenure with the Times. He sold his shares in the paper to Hunt in February 1909 but briefly stayed on as a salaried editor. Hunt, who was associate editor of the Christian Index by 1909, lived in Atlanta, so he needed time to locate a new local editor. By June 1909, C. S. Turner, a Trenton resident, joined the Times as its editor and publisher. Turner eventually acquired Hunt’s shares in the Times, and he owned the newspaper until selling out to J. H. Morris, a business owner from Cartersville. The Dade County Times reverted to its Dade County Sentinel title on March 5, 1965 and continues to circulate today as Dade County’s paper of record.