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Newspaper The Benson Signal (Benson, Cochise County, Ariz.) 1915-1921

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About The Benson Signal (Benson, Cochise County, Ariz.) 1915-1921

Founded in 1880 as a hub for the Southern Pacific Railroad, Benson, Arizona, is located in Cochise County in the San Pedro Valley in Southeastern Arizona. The Benson Breeze first appeared in 1899 as a weekly independent newspaper published by M.K. Sipe. A year later, Allen T. Bird, publisher of The Oasis in Nogales, Arizona, took over, making it a Republican paper under the name the Benson Press. The paper changed hands several times over the next fifteen years – from Bird to W.H. Schardin to W.P. White and back to Sipe – before becoming the independent Benson Signal in 1915. Perry A. Burke was editor and publisher, and until early 1916, the masthead of the Signal reminded readers that it was “Formerly the Benson Press.”

In March 1915, the Tombstone Epitaph commented that “the Signal has been greatly improved of late by Editor Burke, and it can be truthfully said that the Signal is a credit to Benson and vicinity.” Under Burke, the paper largely covered local news of Benson and surrounding communities such as St. David, mining and agricultural news such as livestock prices, and news from around Arizona supplied by the Western Newspaper Union News Service. The paper also carried news from around the world, covering the developing war in Europe, and occasionally included a literary column with serialized fiction and poems.

By early 1916, Burke had left the paper, and his successor. C.L. Rucker, was described by the Bisbee Daily Review as being “a new man to the newspaper business.” Rucker introduced a redesigned masthead and a new slogan: “An Independent Weekly Devoted to the Interests of Benson and the San Pedro Valley.” The Signal saw the installation of a new press and an expansion to eight pages with more advertisements. In January 1920, J. LeRoy Lancaster purchased the Signal, and in his first issue said he could be helpful in promoting the agricultural interests of Benson. He only published the paper for a year before it was purchased by E.L. Pratt, a former editor of a Nebraska newspaper, who changed the paper’s name to The Benson News.

The newspaper then had a string of various editors and publishers, including the return of LeRoy Lancaster as editor, with his wife Buena as publisher. By 1929, they changed the paper’s name to The San Pedro Valley News. The Arizona Republic reported in 1954, when the Benson paper was sold again, that it had twenty-two owners since it had been founded and had “once changed hands for a saddle, a sixshooter, diamond stickpin, and $60 cash.”

In 1958, the paper merged with the Valley Sun as The San Pedro Valley News and Valley Sun, then The San Pedro Valley News-Sun, the News-Sun, and finally The San Pedro Valley News-Sun as it is published today.

Research provided by the University of Arizona Libraries.

Provided By: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Benson Signal (Benson, Cochise County, Ariz.) 1915-1921

Dates of Publication

  • 1915-1921

Created / Published

  • Benson, Cochise County, Ariz. : P.A. Burke

Headings

  • -  Benson (Ariz.)--Newspapers
  • -  Cochise County (Ariz.)--Newspapers
  • -  Arizona--Benson
  • -  Arizona--Cochise County
  • -  United States--Arizona--Cochise--Benson

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1915; ceased in 1921.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 17, no. 14 (July 10, 1915).
  • -  Benson news (DLC)sn 94050515 (OCoLC)31197747

Medium

  • volumes : illustrations

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn94050514

OCLC Number

  • 31197727

ISSN Number

  • 2692-6989

Succeeding 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 Benson Signal Benson, Cochise County, Ariz. -1921. (Benson, AZ), Jan. 1 1915. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn94050514/.

APA citation style:

(1915, January 1) The Benson Signal Benson, Cochise County, Ariz. -1921. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn94050514/.

MLA citation style:

The Benson Signal Benson, Cochise County, Ariz. -1921. (Benson, AZ) 1 Jan. 1915. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn94050514/.