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Newspaper The Fulton County News (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-Current Fulton County news the Fulton County journal

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About The Fulton County News (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-Current

The Fulton County News is the sole survivor today of the half-dozen 19th-century newspapers in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania. Independent politically in its early years, the News did not editorialize, but focused instead on providing a wide variety of interesting reading material, like a combination newspaper/magazine. The Fulton County News was eight pages long, when most rural Pennsylvania weeklies were only four.

Fulton County, on the Pennsylvania-Maryland border, was formed in 1850 and named for Pennsylvania native Robert Fulton, builder of the first commercially successful steamboat. McConnellsburg, the county seat, is in a valley of the Appalachians and was laid out in 1786 by Daniel McConnell, one of original warrantees of the land where the town stands. By the end of the 19th century its economic base consisted of county government and some small industries.

McConnellsburg was constrained by its geography, but it became an important stopping place for early travelers. The town was on the turnpike that connected eastern and western Pennsylvania and also was the terminus of the road from Washington, D.C. The 1793 Fulton House hotel hosted Presidents John Adams, Zachary Taylor, William Henry Harrison, and James Buchanan. The “Packers’ Path” used by early traders in the town became part of the 1913 transcontinental Lincoln Highway. Stagecoaches descending the steep hills into McConnellsburg were often held upright by men pulling on ropes, inspiring local farmer George Diven to invent (though never patent) a friction brake whose design principles were profitably used later by the likes of Westinghouse Air Brake Company.

When Bennett Wilson Peck (1850-1921) founded the Fulton County News on September 21, 1899, McConnellsburg had 576 residents and two other newspapers: the Fulton Democrat (founded 1850) and the Fulton Republican (1851), politically partisan as indicated, and each with a circulation of 900-1,000. By 1920, the News was circulating to 2,200; the Democrat to 1,500; and the Republican to 900 readers. Peck had been a schoolteacher and then Fulton County school superintendent from 1887 to1896. He owned the Fulton Democrat from 1895 to1898, selling it to start the News. Peck died in June 1921 and Edgar M. Krug (1877-1930), a newspaperman in State College and Huntingdon, bought the paper. In 1921 the Fulton Republican closed and the News became a Republican paper. Having become deaf, Krug made his wife a business partner, and Mary Sents Krug (1883-1942) assumed the post of editor after his death.

The Fulton County News under Peck and the Krugs published general national, state, and county news, and columns about fashion, religion, and food, but its main focus was always local human interest. The main article on page one, January 11, 1905, had a headline that could have been the newspaper’s mission statement: “About People You Know. Snapshots of their movements, as they come and go, names of visitors and visited, home for a vacation, away for an outing or trip for business or pleasure, you’ll find it right here.” The attention to the details of local life made the Fulton County News of compelling interest to its contemporary readers, and it remains of enduring value to family, local, and social historians studying that place and its people.

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

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Fulton County News (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-Current

Other Title

  • Fulton County news the Fulton County journal

Dates of Publication

  • 1899-current

Created / Published

  • McConnellsburg, Pa. : [publisher not identified]

Headings

  • -  McConnellsburg (Pa.)--Newspapers
  • -  Pennsylvania--McConnellsburg
  • -  United States--Pennsylvania--Fulton--McConnellsburg

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1899. Cf. Rossell, G. Pa. newspapers.
  • -  Published as: Fulton County news the Fulton County journal, .
  • -  Publishers: Audrey Greathead Locke and Jamie Scott Greathead, <1983>.
  • -  Editor: B.W. Peck.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 2 (Sept. 28, 1899).
  • -  Latest issue consulted: 110th year, no. 24 (June 17, 2010).

Medium

  • volumes : illustrations ; 59 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn86081889

OCLC Number

  • 14408945

ISSN Number

  • 2327-6770

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:

The Fulton County News McConnellsburg, Pa. -Current. (McConnellsburg, PA), Jan. 1 1899. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86081889/.

APA citation style:

(1899, January 1) The Fulton County News McConnellsburg, Pa. -Current. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn86081889/.

MLA citation style:

The Fulton County News McConnellsburg, Pa. -Current. (McConnellsburg, PA) 1 Jan. 1899. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn86081889/.