Today's column is an 11-year cornucopia of “newsy news,” from around the state, ranging from July 1874 to January 1885. Several items deal with the latest newspapers coming to the area and the status of railroad projects.”
July 1874: “Ex-president (Andrew) Johnson, Gov. McMullin, Mr. C. S. Bekem of Abingdon and Mr. Peltier of the Johnson City Journal were all in Bristol last Thursday.” (Note: The former president would die in July one year later in Elizabethton, TN.)
July 1874: “Mr. J. W. Peltier was again in town and says he has achieved success in getting up a subscription list for his new paper, known as The Johnson City Times.”
July 1874: “Gale's School in Blountville closed with entertainment last Friday evening. The concert was accompanied with charades with all of the pupils participating. The admission fee was ten cents and the highest degree of satisfaction was given. We are glad to learn that the school is large and is doing well. Prof. Gale is one of the best teachers in the country.”
July 1874: “The citizens of Johnson City have made a purse and have purchased a complete outfit for a newspaper to be edited and conducted by Mr. Peltier, lately of the Jonesboro Echo. The power press, lately used in the office of the Knoxville Chronicle, has been purchased and has already been set up in the office of the 'Peoples Advocate' at Johnson City, and we presume that the first number of the paper will appear within a few weeks. We are gratified that the people of that prosperous and very pleasant town are to have a paper.”
Sept. 1874: “The Johnson City Times is edited by Mr. Peltier. It is produced on the “patent outside” plan (not printed locally but obtained from another publisher who furnishes the same general paper to other cities.). It presents a neat appearance and is conservative in politics. We hope it will have an abundant appetite for its work and abundant success at it.”
Area Newspaper Advertisement Music Emporium in Knoxville, Tennessee
Sept. 1874: “Austin's Springs (a new summer resort, this being the second season since commencing the enterprise here) is situated on a high height perch overlooking the beautiful Watauga River, a point 3.5 miles below Carter's Station, the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad and kept by the Austin Bros., who strive to make it a place of genuine comfort and pleasure for those who stop with them for rest and recreation.”
Aug. 1876: “Mr. J.W. Peltier who has been known in connection with the Jonesboro Echo, the Johnson City Times and the Clinton (Tennessee) Tribune has issued a prospectus for an evening paper to appear soon on the Tennessee side of Bristol. In addition, he plans to produce an eight-page weekly, which he says will strive to become the leading organ of the Democratic Party in the First Congressional District. Peltier has exhibited more nerve in this respect than we (The Bristol News) possess and it is now up to Bristol to show whether it will support such an enterprise. We wish to satisfy and fulfill the hopes of Mr. Peltier.”
July 1874: “Those attending the Bristol Fair that year were Mr. C.X. Mathews of the Wytheville Enterprise, Maj. W.P. Elliott of the Press and Herald, C.C.A. Heermans of the Virginia People, George W. Ward of the Abingdon Virginian, J.W. Peltier of the Johnson City Times and M. S. Mahoney of the Jonesboro Herald and Tribune.”
Jan. 1885: “A number of railway projects are being initiated. A survey of the proposed line from Gaffney City, South Carolina, via Rutherfordton, Marion and Bakersville to Johnson City, Tennessee has been completed as far as Rutherfordton and is progressing towards Marion.”