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Newspaper Abilene Weekly Reflector (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935

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About Abilene Weekly Reflector (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935

The Abilene Reflector, founded in the latter half of 1883, was an eight-page newspaper published every Thursday. Abilene is the county seat for Dickinson County, and by the early 1880s it had shed its rough cowtown image of the late 1860s to become a thriving commercial center with a rapidly growing population. By 1884 the town boasted a new public water system, an opera house seating nearly 1,000 persons, a telephone exchange, several banks, and three newspapers, including the Reflector. In March 1888, the Reflector became the official paper of Dickinson County, seizing the title from the Abilene Gazette. The Reflector retained this status throughout its tenure. In its own words, the paper was “conducted in the interest of the Democratic party, believing the party in its wisdom in the choice of candidates, from county offices to national, is greater than personal feeling or prejudice.”

The founding editors of the Reflector were brothers Berzelius L. Strother and Sidonia K. Strother. In June 1885, S.K. Strother left to join the Kansas City Times. Henry Litts took over his half of ownership and assumed full editorial responsibilities in March 1887 when B.L. Strother retired from the newspaper for health reasons.

On February 23, 1888, the Reflector was purchased by the Reflector Publishing Company consisting of John J. Cooper as president and Richard Waring as business manager. With them, the Reflector began a new Republican Party affiliation. Henry Litts left the paper “regretful because it will reflect Republican and not Democratic doctrine.” The new proprietors cited “the universal demand of republicans in this section of the state for a Republican newspaper at Abilene” and began the “anomalous task of converting a Simon-pure democratic paper into a live, progressive republican journal.” Later that same year, the Strother brothers established a Democratic newspaper in Abilene called the Dickinson County News which claimed to have “a larger circulation than any other weekly in the county.” In fact, the two papers were evenly matched. In 1890, the Republican Reflector circulated only 25 more copies than the Democratic News; in 1893, the News circulated 87 more issues than its rival.

The Reflector had also appeared in a daily edition, the Evening Reflector, beginning May 9, 1887. Within a few months of the purchase of the paper in 1888, both editions changed title: the weekly Abilene Reflector became the Abilene Weekly Reflector beginning on May 3, and the daily Evening Reflector became the Abilene Daily Reflector beginning on May 2. The daily edition absorbed the weekly edition in 1935 and then in 1942 merged with the Abilene Daily Chronicle to become the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle, which continues today.

Provided By: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Abilene Weekly Reflector (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935

Dates of Publication

  • 1888-1935

Created / Published

  • Abilene, Kan. : Reflector Pub., 1888-1935.

Headings

  • -  Abilene (Kan.)--Newspapers
  • -  Kansas--Abilene
  • -  United States--Kansas--Dickinson--Abilene

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 5, no. 36 (May 3, 1888)-v. 51, no. 23 (Feb. 21, 1935).
  • -  "Republican."
  • -  Available on microfilm from Micro Photo.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Issued also in daily edition called: Abilene daily reflector.
  • -  Abilene daily reflector (DLC)sn 84029378 (OCoLC)11098277

Medium

  • 45 volumes : illustrations ; 60 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn84029386

OCLC Number

  • 11098266

ISSN Number

  • 2163-4459

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

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Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Abilene Weekly Reflector Abilene, Kan. -1935. (Abilene, KS), Jan. 1 1888. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84029386/.

APA citation style:

(1888, January 1) Abilene Weekly Reflector Abilene, Kan. -1935. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84029386/.

MLA citation style:

Abilene Weekly Reflector Abilene, Kan. -1935. (Abilene, KS) 1 Jan. 1888. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn84029386/.