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Newspaper Missouri Valley Times (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931

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About Missouri Valley Times (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931

The town of Missouri Valley, Iowa, was established in 1867 when the Chicago & Northwestern Railway was extended through Harrison County. The following year, Daniel M. Harris started the Harrisonian, the town’s first newspaper. Harris, who left a career in law for the newspaper business, served as editor and proprietor of the paper until 1872, when he sold it to H.M. Goltry. Harris moved on to establish newspapers in Independence, Kansas; Exira, Iowa; and Atlantic, Iowa, before returning to Missouri Valley and repurchasing his former newspaper, now called the Missouri Valley Times, in 1876.

The Missouri Valley Times remained in the Harris family for many years. By 1880, Harris’ sons, Robert H. Harris and John W. Harris, joined him in the business. Shortly after Daniel Harris’ death in 1911, his grandson, Rush C. Lahman, partnered with Robert Harris’ son-in-law, Guy W. Mahoney, to purchase the paper. Lahman was the son of Daniel Harris’ daughter, Clara C. Harris, and John P. Lahman. Mahoney was married to Robert Harris’ daughter Della. Two years after they purchased the paper, Lahman bought out Mahoney’s interest to become the sole proprietor. Throughout Daniel and Robert Harris’ editorships, the Times supported the views of the Democratic Party. When Lahman took over, the paper became politically independent.

During the early 1900s, a typical issue of the Missouri Valley Times featured major world, national, or statewide stories on the front page, with an emphasis on political news. The rest of the paper was dedicated to local news. General local news items were listed for each day of the preceding week, and correspondence columns reported news from many surrounding towns including Melrose, Saint John, Elmdale, Calhoun, and Whitsboro. The paper also included marriage announcements, obituaries, city council proceedings, school news, and announcements of social events.

In addition to the regular news items, issues of the Times included special feature pieces. The paper often printed serialized fiction, such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. After the United States entered World War I, the Times began a regular column called, “The Boys at the Front,” featuring letters from local soldiers serving in the war.

The Missouri Valley Times was published weekly until 1931. A daily edition, the Missouri Valley Daily Times was published alongside the weekly edition beginning in 1891. After the weekly edition ceased publication, the Daily Times merged with the Harrison County News. The paper went through a number of title and ownership changes over the following years, but continues to publish today as the Missouri Valley Times-News, on a semiweekly schedule.

Provided By: State Historical Society of Iowa

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Missouri Valley Times (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931

Dates of Publication

  • 1874-1931

Created / Published

  • Missouri Valley, Iowa : D.M. Harris & Sons, -1931.

Headings

  • -  Missouri Valley (Iowa)--Newspapers
  • -  Iowa--Missouri Valley
  • -  United States--Iowa--Harrison--Missouri Valley

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1874? Cf. Bibl. of Iowa newspapers.
  • -  -v. 64, no. 6 (Aug. 13, 1931).
  • -  Publisher varies.
  • -  "Democratic," <1876>.
  • -  Editor: D.M. Harris, <1876>.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 9, no. 11 (Oct. 20, 1876).
  • -  Missouri Valley daily times (Missouri Valley, Iowa : 1891) Aug. 15, 1931 (DLC)sn 85049862 (OCoLC)12888404

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn84038335

OCLC Number

  • 11270400

ISSN Number

  • 2474-3259

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

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:

Missouri Valley Times Missouri Valley, Iowa -1931. (Missouri Valley, IA), Jan. 1 1874. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84038335/.

APA citation style:

(1874, January 1) Missouri Valley Times Missouri Valley, Iowa -1931. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84038335/.

MLA citation style:

Missouri Valley Times Missouri Valley, Iowa -1931. (Missouri Valley, IA) 1 Jan. 1874. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn84038335/.