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Newspaper The Honesdale Citizen (Honesdale, Pa.) 1873-1908 Citizen

About The Honesdale Citizen (Honesdale, Pa.) 1873-1908

Perched in Pennsylvania’s northeast corner, Wayne County is separated from New York by the Delaware River. Honesdale, the county seat named for New York City Mayor Philip Hone, was laid out in 1826 during planning for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. (of which Hone was president) to transship coal from the Lackawanna mining region to the East Coast. The canal carried coal 108 miles to the Hudson River at Kingston. The first steam locomotive in the United States, the Stourbridge Lion, ran on D. & H.C.C.’s track on August 8, 1829.

Founded in 1873, the Honesdale Citizen had a complex genealogy. Goodrich’s 1880 History of Wayne County says it began when “the Wayne County Free Press and Bethany and Honesdale Advertiser was established January 1, 1838, by Paul S. Preston, at Bethany…. In 1840, the Free Press was removed to Honesdale, and, in 1842, [it] took the name of the Beechwoodsman . . . succeeded, in 1844, by the Honesdale Democrat. . . edited by F[rancis].B. Penniman.”

His son, Edward A. Penniman, purchased the weekly, becoming his partner and, finally, the editor on August 25, 1858. The change in name and political affiliation from the Honesdale Democrat to the Republic took place on January 18, 1864. In 1868, Penniman got a new press, type, and format and showcased these with a new title–the Wayne Citizen–which debuted on June 18, 1868, edited by J.C. Wells. Joseph D. Pyott edited the Citizen in 1869, followed by Henry Wilson in 1870. “On the 12th of June, 1873,” wrote Alfred Matthews in his 1886 History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania, “the [name of the] paper was once more changed to the Honesdale Citizen . . . edited and published . . . by Henry Wilson and E.A. Penniman”

The September 24, 1908, issue announced, “The Honesdale Citizen having been disposed of to The Citizen Publishing Company, the relation of Wilson & Penniman to the paper . . . ceases with this issue.” Both men were over 70, “Hence, we cheerfully give place to those better able to undertake the labor.” A week later, on October 2, 1908, the page 2 masthead announced that the Citizen, with “W[alter] W. Wood Manager,” would henceforth be “published every Wednesday and Friday.”

Wood’s Citizen ran an appealing mix of local stories and major news. The front of the eight-page issue on April 17, 1912, offered an 11-paragraph column under “Titanic Sinks After Hitting Iceberg,” but led with a three-column story on Board of Trade plans “To Develop Wayne County and Make a Larger and Better Honesdale.” In N.W. Ayer & Son’s American Newspaper Annual for 1908, the Citizen claimed a circulation of 1,500, making the Republican biweekly the smallest of the three Wayne County newspapers. It trailed the Democratic weekly Wayne County Herald, which claimed 2,400, and the semiweekly Wayne Independent, with 4,000.

On March 6, 1914, 10 months after the Wayne County Herald ceased publication, the Citizen was reincarnated as the Wayne County Citizen, edited by Edwin B. Callaway. In 1952, it merged with the Hawley Times as the Citizen-Times, remaining in Honesdale until ceasing publication in 1966.

Provided By: Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Honesdale Citizen (Honesdale, Pa.) 1873-1908

Other Title

  • Citizen

Dates of Publication

  • 1873-1908

Created / Published

  • Honesdale, Pa. : H. Wilson, E.A. Penniman, 1873-1908.

Headings

  • -  Honesdale (Pa.)--Newspapers
  • -  Pennsylvania--Honesdale
  • -  United States--Pennsylvania--Wayne--Honesdale

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Semiweekly, <1908>
  • -  Vol. 6, no. 1 (June 12, 1873)-v. 40, no. 21 (Sept. 24, 1908).
  • -  "Republican," <1876>.
  • -  Editors: Henry Wilson, <1876>; Edward A. Penniman, <1876>.
  • -  Also issued on microfilm.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Citizen (Honesdale, Pa.) 2166-7705 (DLC)sn 87078082 (OCoLC)14233846

Medium

  • 36 volumes ; 68 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • ISSN RECORD

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86053536

OCLC Number

  • 13781132

ISSN Number

  • 2166-7691

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

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:

The Honesdale Citizen Honesdale, Pa. -1908. (Honesdale, PA), Jan. 1 1873. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86053536/.

APA citation style:

(1873, January 1) The Honesdale Citizen Honesdale, Pa. -1908. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86053536/.

MLA citation style:

The Honesdale Citizen Honesdale, Pa. -1908. (Honesdale, PA) 1 Jan. 1873. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86053536/.