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Newspaper Dodgeville Chronicle (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-Current Chronicle

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About Dodgeville Chronicle (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-Current

The first issue of the Dodgeville [Wisconsin] Chronicle was published on September 18, 1862.Editor John Cowan, who had run the preceding publication, the Iowa County Advocate, published since1858, planned to ring in a new era with the weekly. The previous year, Dodgeville had assumed the role as county seat, and the Dodgeville Chronicle was meant to bring news to all residents of Iowa County. Servicing the surrounding towns and villages of Mineral Point, Linden, Highland, Barneveld, Cobb, Rewey, Mifflin, and Arena, the Chronicle also featured news from these communities, which were usually printed on page four.

Dodgeville is one of the oldest existing towns in the state of Wisconsin and emerged as a mining settlement in 1827. The lead mining industry drew in growing numbers of miners, initially causing the rapid growth of the city. The boom, however, did not last, and the residents had to find alternative industries to live off when the profits declined in the 1940s. Already by the time the Chronicle was launched in 1862, the surrounding area had predominantly turned to agriculture.

During its early years, the newspaper primarily focused on the Civil War and other national news, which was extensively covered on the first page. Despite the politically turbulent times, the Chronicle initially claimed to be “Neutral in Politics – Fair Play for all.” As the war carried on, however, the Chronicle became “A Republican and Family Newspaper – Devoted to the Interests of the People.”

The publication underwent some layout changes in the early 20th century. Local news gained importance and replaced the national news on the first page. By that time, the readership had exceeded 2,600 and continued to grow. In 1928, when more than 4,700 people regularly subscribed to the Chronicle, it also expanded from four to ten pages. Over the years changes in leadership shaped the publication as well. Editor Cowen was soon succeeded by Walter Wrigglesworth, who, with varying co-editors ran the paper from 1863 until 1874, followed among others by Albert Hearn (1874-1907), John Reese (1907-27), Lewis Russell Kessler (1928-56), and Lilian Kessler (1944-1984), whose extended family continues to run the Chronicle.

Provided By: Wisconsin Historical Society

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Dodgeville Chronicle (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-Current

Other Title

  • Chronicle

Dates of Publication

  • 1862-current

Created / Published

  • Dodgeville, Wis. : Wrigglesworth & Co., 1862-

Headings

  • -  Dodgeville (Wis.)--Periodicals
  • -  Wisconsin--Dodgeville
  • -  United States--Wisconsin--Iowa--Dodgeville

Genre

  • Periodicals
  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Sept. 18, 1862)-
  • -  Publisher varies.
  • -  Supplements accompany some issues.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.

Medium

  • volumes ; 60 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn85033019

OCLC Number

  • 11595990

ISSN Number

  • 2640-1819

Preceding 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:

Dodgeville Chronicle Dodgeville, Wis. -Current. (Dodgeville, WI), Jan. 1 1862. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85033019/.

APA citation style:

(1862, January 1) Dodgeville Chronicle Dodgeville, Wis. -Current. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn85033019/.

MLA citation style:

Dodgeville Chronicle Dodgeville, Wis. -Current. (Dodgeville, WI) 1 Jan. 1862. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn85033019/.