Johnstown Independent
The Johnstown Independent was a long-running, weekly newspaper in the Licking County community of Johnstown from June 1884 until around 2010.
The founding owner and editor of the paper was E.N Gunsaulus. Gunsaulus owned the paper for less than a year, however, and would later have a career in the U.S. consular service.[1] The paper was sold by Gunsaulus to B.G. Ashbrook in February 1885, but the new owner grew sick shortly after its purchase and died a few months late on May 5th, 1885. The operation and ownership of the paper fell upon B.G.'s sixteen-year-old brother, William A. Ashbrook. The odds might have been against the Independent's third owner in less than a year, yet Ashbrook displayed a rare gift for the newspaper business. He gained a partial owner, A.Q. Beem, in the Independent and founded a second paper with Beem, the ''Pataskala Standard'', in 1886. When Ashbrook entered politics, the paper, despite its name, supported the Democratic party, fitting with Ashbrook's rise as a Democrat in local and national politics. This did not prevent the paper, in the eyes of chronicler E. Brister, from fulfilling its primary duty as a local paper focused on the interests of the people of Johnstown. [2] The politics of the paper would change as the politics of the Ashbrook family drifted towards the Republican party; John M. Ashbrook, son of William, succeeded his father in both his congressional seat and ownership of the Independent. The younger Ashbrook would run on the Republican ticket and changed the political stance of the Independent accordingly. Ashbrook died unexpectedly in 1982 at the age of 53, collapsing in the office of the Johnstown Independent. [3] At Ashbrook's death, his estate owned not only the Johnstown Independent but also The Centerburg Gazette, and The Licking Countian. The three local papers were sold to Columbus attorney Elliot Geller in 1984. [4] The Independent was published by Charles Fenton until March 1988 when Fenton sold the paper to Gary Hirt. The Independent was printed by a subsidiary the Dispatch Printing Company Sometime around 1989 and continued as part of the ThisWeek news service until about 2010. ThisWeek news service continues operations in 2021, but no longer lists the Independent as one of its papers. [5]
Some of its slogans included: "An Independent Local News Journal, Devoted to the Interests of its Patrons," "The Old Hometown Paper," "Serving the Johnstown Area Since 1884"
A digital version of the Johnstown Independent can be found on through the Licking County Library's website.
J.G.
References
- ↑ The Johnstown Weekly Independent, Jun. 14, 1884, 2; Brister, E. Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County, Ohio vol. 1 (1911), 396
- ↑ Brister, E., Centennial history, vol. 1, (1911), 396.
- ↑ "Ashbrook death triggers wave of shock, mourning," The Advocate, Apr. 26, 1982, 1
- ↑ "Judge OKs Ashbrook papers' sale," The Advocate, Dec. 16, 1984
- ↑ https://www.thisweeknews.com/
