About

Elam Christian established the Calhoun Times with its first issue on August 12, 1870. The paper was Democratic in politics, published every Thursday at a subscription cost of two dollars, and had a circulation of about 350 in its inaugural year. Christian was sole editor and proprietor until March 16, 1870 when he passed ownership on to H. F. Ferguson. Ferguson hired W. R. Rankin, Sr. as editor and the partners operated the paper until February 27, 1873. For the rest of 1873, W. C. Rice owned the Times while D. B. Freeman acted as editor. For three years, the paper’s title read the Calhoun Weekly Times, but Rice dropped “Weekly” from the title in 1877. The paper shifted publication to Wednesdays, and served as the official paper for Gordon County. From January 1, 1874 to 1880, D. B. Freeman operated the paper without a partner and achieved a circulation of 500 by 1877. Freeman transferred ownership to J. I. Ingram at the beginning of 1880, and he operated the newspaper with the editorial assistance of relative W. H. Ingram. J. I. Ingram worked on the paper alone until selling the Times to H. A. Chapman in July of 1883. Chapman became the paper’s longest-running proprietor, staying until February 5, 1891. From February, 1891, to March 3, 1892, J. W. Logan was the owner of the paper while W. W. Wilson acted as business manager and J. A. Hall as editor. W. W. Wilson took over ownership of the publication in early 1892 and brought on J. M. Harkins as editor. The two worked on the Times until November 30, 1893 when Harkins was replaced by J. O. Middleton. During Wilson’s tenure, the paper achieved a circulation of over 1,000 and cost a dollar per year. From 1894 to 1896, the Calhoun Times became an independent publication under the management of W. R. Rankin, Jr., and J. O. Middleton. On January 2, 1896, the Times merged with the county’s legal organ, the Gordon Citizen, under the Calhoun Times title. James A. Hall, former editor of the Times, became publisher, and he remained associated with the paper for the next ten years. The paper continued under the Calhoun Times masthead until 1976 when it became the Calhoun Times and Gordon County News, which continues to print today as Gordon County’s legal organ.