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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Farmers Independent (Bagley, Clearwater County, Minn.) 1918-Current

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About Farmers Independent (Bagley, Clearwater County, Minn.) 1918-Current

Established in 1918, Farmers Independent has a long history, serving the people of Bagley, Minnesota and broader Clearwater County for over a century. Located in north central Minnesota, Bagley began as a small logging camp, and it was incorporated as a town in 1898, with a population of 212. A center of activity for Clearwater County, Bagley became county seat in 1902.

Farmers Independent was a product of the changing politics of the era, with the rise of the Nonpartisan League, Farmer-Labor Party, and farmer cooperatives. In 1918, a group of 236 shareholders, mostly farmers, banded together to establish the Farmers Publishing Company. This company then purchased Bagley’s longest running publication, the Bagley Independent and Peoples Defender, in October of 1918, and it became Farmers Independent. The paper’s tagline succinctly sums up the outlook of the editorial staff: “A newspaper of the Farmer, by the Farmer, for the Farmer.” With the publication of its first issue on November 28, 1918, the paper sought to provide a voice to farmers and to advocate for the new Farmer-Labor Party and Nonpartisan League.

Through the first few years of publication, Farmers Independent was known for its sometimes heated and pointed editorials, which culminated with the arrest of its president and treasurer in 1921 in a case brought by the editor of Bagley’s other newspaper, the Bagley Herald. Though the charges of selling company stock without a license were dismissed, the accusation seemed to have an impact, as the previously explosive editorials became tamer. Farmers Independent then bought the Bagley Herald later that year, leaving it the only paper in town. After the purchase, the newspaper noted that the “Farmers Independent becomes a community newspaper, with good will to all and malice towards none.”

The weekly six-column paper covered news from nearby townships and broader Clearwater County, as well as state and national news, and it featured an independent editorial page. In addition to its support of the Farmer-Labor movement in its early editorial coverage, the paper was a constant booster of local development and business with frequent reminders to only patronize local business and avoid traveling salespeople and wholesalers to keep money in the community.

As of 2024, Farmers Independent continues in weekly publication and remains the only cooperative newspaper active in Minnesota.

Provided By: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Farmers Independent (Bagley, Clearwater County, Minn.) 1918-Current

Dates of Publication

  • 1918-current

Created / Published

  • Bagley, Clearwater County, Minn., Farmers' Pub. Co.

Headings

  • -  Bagley (Minn.)--Newspapers
  • -  Clearwater County (Minn.)--Newspapers
  • -  Minnesota--Clearwater County
  • -  Minnesota--Bagley
  • -  United States--Minnesota--Clearwater--Bagley

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1918.
  • -  Issues for -May 3, 1923 called also Bagley herald, v. 14, no. 46-Bagley herald, v. 16, no. 13.
  • -  Available on microfilm from the Minnesota Historical Society.
  • -  Vol. 4, No. 5 (Dec. 22, 1921); title from masthead.
  • -  Vol. 86, No. 24 (June 11, 1986).
  • -  Bagley herald

Medium

  • volumes illustrations

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86010115

OCLC Number

  • 10329390

ISSN Number

  • 0889-3470

Preceding 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:

Farmers Independent Bagley, Clearwater County, Minn. -Current. (Bagley, MN), Jan. 1 1918. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86010115/.

APA citation style:

(1918, January 1) Farmers Independent Bagley, Clearwater County, Minn. -Current. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86010115/.

MLA citation style:

Farmers Independent Bagley, Clearwater County, Minn. -Current. (Bagley, MN) 1 Jan. 1918. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86010115/.