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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Fort Mill Times (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-2020

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About Fort Mill Times (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-2020

The weekly Fort Mill Times (1892-current) came into existence just as the forces of industrialization and development were starting to remake the economic and physical landscape of York County, South Carolina. Sadly, many early issues are missing, and much of what is known about the Fort Mill Times in its formative years has been gleaned from the Yorkville Enquirer, published in the nearby town of Yorkville. By most accounts, the Fort Mill Times began as the Fort Mill News, which was established by William Benjamin Ardrey in 1890. Ardrey chose as its slogan, “Do good unto all men,” presumably in reference to Galatians 6:10. In 1892, Baptist minister John Eugene McManaway assumed ownership, and from all appearances, used his platform to conduct a long-running public feud with John Lawton Harley, the minister to the Methodist churches in Fort Mill. The latest available issue of the Fort Mill News is dated June 15, 1892.

That same year, William Rufus Bradford, Sr., launched the Fort Mill News (he had previously published the Fort Mill Catawbian). In September 1893, Bradford left Fort Mill to accept a job with the United States Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. The Fort Mill Times struggled over the next seven years, suspending publication on at least two documented occasions. In 1900, William Bradford returned to Fort Mill, ready to reestablish his control of the paper. On March 24, 1900, the Yorkville Enquirer gushed, “Fort Mill again has a weekly newspaper, and from the appearance of the first issue, which has just come to hand, it is to be a better newspaper than Fort Mill has had heretofore.”

William Bradford remained involved with the Fort Mill Times for over forty years. In addition to editing the Times, he also served as mayor of Fort Mill, York County clerk of court, and South Carolina representative. His brother, Bennett Walter Bradford, presumably handled the day-to-day responsibilities of running the paper. In 1943, William Rufus Bradford, Jr., took over the Times and gave it a new vitality. Like his father, William Bradford, Jr., spent several decades editing the Times before finally selling it in 1979. The Fort Mill Times is currently owned by the Herald Publishing Company based in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

 

Provided By: University of South Carolina; Columbia, SC

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Fort Mill Times (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-2020

Dates of Publication

  • 1892-2020

Created / Published

  • Fort Mill, S.C. : W.B. Ardrey

Headings

  • -  Fort Mill (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  York County (S.C.)--Newspapers
  • -  South Carolina--Fort Mill
  • -  South Carolina--York County
  • -  United States--South Carolina--York--Fort Mill

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1892; ceased with April 15, 2020.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 4, no.? (May 8, 1897).
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Vol. 146, no. 146 (July 26, 2017).

Medium

  • volumes ; 55 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86063778

OCLC Number

  • 13622336

ISSN Number

  • 2472-811x

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:

Fort Mill Times Fort Mill, S.C. 1892 to 2020. (Fort Mill, SC), Jan. 1 1892. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86063778/.

APA citation style:

(1892, January 1) Fort Mill Times Fort Mill, S.C. 1892 to 2020. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86063778/.

MLA citation style:

Fort Mill Times Fort Mill, S.C. 1892 to 2020. (Fort Mill, SC) 1 Jan. 1892. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86063778/.