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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Democratic Banner (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?

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About The Democratic Banner (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?

Established in April 1838 by Chauncey Bassett and Joel Robb, the Mount Vernon Democratic Banner changed ownership and editorship nine times until it was finally purchased by Lecky Harper in December 1853. Under Harper’s 64-year editorship, the Democratic Banner flourished, with increased subscriptions and a distinctive point of view. Harper was a Peace Democrat with a national reputation for being strongly critical of big government, child labor, Whigs, and the Civil War. He was also a strong defender of foreigners, having emigrated from Ireland when he was five. Harper often used editorials to criticize the Ohio State Times and the Mount Vernon Republican.

After Harper’s death in 1895, his sons, Frank and William, took over the weekly paper. The strong political viewpoint and sensational headlines continued, with a focus on national political news. Readers were kept informed about laws, taxes, and politicians. Many articles also related incidents of crime, death, and injury. Yet local news was not forgotten, and several sections of the Democratic Banner, including one titled “County Correspondence,” were devoted to local affairs and gossip.

Frank Harper also provided detailed coverage of several local court cases, including Ohio v. Lewis Bolton, a first-degree murder case that was moved from Licking County to Knox County in April 1911. For several weeks running, readers were exposed to the inner workings of this case, from jury selection to the aftermath of the decision. Other court cases from the time were treated in a similar fashion and demonstrate how the paper focused not only on sensational national news, but dramatic local news as well.

Under subsequent editorship, starting in 1917 when Frank Harper began to lease the paper to Stephen J. Dorgan, the Democratic Banner became more conservative, although it was still considered progressive. National and international news items, especially those relating to World War I, filled the front page of each edition, but overall, the Democratic Banner focused more on local news. Dorgan included cartoons and sports news in the paper as well. In 1935, the newspaper was sold to the Republican News , which later changed its name to the Mount Vernon News.

Provided By: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Democratic Banner (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?

Dates of Publication

  • 1898-192?

Created / Published

  • Mt. Vernon, Ohio : Frank Harper, 1898-

Headings

  • -  Mount Vernon (Ohio)--Newspapers
  • -  Knox County (Ohio)--Newspapers
  • -  Ohio--Knox County
  • -  Ohio--Mount Vernon
  • -  United States--Ohio--Knox--Mount Vernon

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Semiweekly
  • -  Vol. 62, no. 8 (June 22, 1898)-
  • -  Ceased in 1923?
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Daily ed.: Daily banner (Mount Vernon, Ohio), 1898-<1922>.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn88078751

OCLC Number

  • 18320299

ISSN Number

  • 2157-6505

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 Democratic Banner Mt. Vernon, Ohio -192?. (Mount Vernon, OH), Jan. 1 1898. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88078751/.

APA citation style:

(1898, January 1) The Democratic Banner Mt. Vernon, Ohio -192?. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88078751/.

MLA citation style:

The Democratic Banner Mt. Vernon, Ohio -192?. (Mount Vernon, OH) 1 Jan. 1898. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn88078751/.