Courier observes 185th anniversary

The Courier dates back 185 years to a time when Findlay was a town of just 350 people, with another 6,000 living in Hancock County. That was when Jacob Rosenberg came and started the first newspaper, a weekly called The Findlay Courier. The Courier name continues in 2021. Over the years, there have been dozens of newspapers published here, according to information compiled for The Courier's 175th anniversary by the late Edwin L. "Ed" Heminger, former chairman of the Findlay Publishing Co. In the 1880s — during the gas and oil boom — seven Findlay newspapers were published at one time. Three were dailies and the rest were weeklies, including a paper published in German. That was when Ed's grandfather, Isaac Newton "I.N." Heminger, started in the field. Born in North Baltimore, I.N. was orphaned by age 14. He then made his home with older brother Lloyd Heminger in Van Buren, where he went on to graduate from high school. He enrolled at Findlay College and became a part-time reporter for The Morning-Republican, working as a college correspondent. I.N. was offered a full-time job upon graduation. He also invested a modest amount in the newspaper, which began the Heminger family's involvement. By about 1900, there were three daily newspapers operating in Findlay. One was the Democratic daily, The Courier. There were also two competing Republican party daily newspapers: The Morning Republican and The Jeffersonian. Leaders in the local Republican party felt their political interests could be better served if the two papers came under common ownership, according to Ed. So in 1905, a dozen investors organized the Findlay Publishing Co. and acquired both Republican papers. I.N. assumed the daily management of the new company, which was located at 308 Broadway. During the next 114 years, ownership never went outside that original group of investors and their heirs. I.N. had two sons, Lowell and Lloyd. Both entered the newspaper business; Ed's father, Lowell, in 1918, and Lloyd a few years later. Technology in that day found the Associated Press coming to the newsroom by Morse Code. An AP telegrapher received the news in the office in code and then typed it on a typewriter for the editors. It was also the days before radio and television. On election night, crowds would gather around the Hancock County Courthouse. The Morning Republican at the time was located across the street on Broadway. Election results came in by Morse Code, and voting totals would be projected onto a giant white screen that hung on the west side of the courthouse. A projector in the newsroom updated the results every few minutes. By 1926, with three Hemingers active in the business, Findlay Publishing Co. purchased the competing daily, The Courier, which was a Democratic party paper. For the next seven years, both The Morning Republican and The Courier were published, and each maintained its political party affiliations. Lowell served as editor of both newspapers, writing both Republican and Democratic editorials. Democratic leaders at the time told Lowell that he wrote better editorials for The Courier than when it was owned by true Democrats. By 1933, the Great Depression brought about the merger of the two newspapers into The Republican-Courier, the only paper in town. The merged newspaper declared its independence of party affiliations. Lloyd was killed in 1931 in an auto accident on U.S. 68, just south of Findlay. He was 33 with no children, so that left I.N. and Lowell to run the paper. Lowell's sons, Ed and Harold, grew up during the Great Depression and war years. They started as newspaper carriers and did odd jobs around the office. Ed said in his case, the war produced such a shortage of help that he was drafted to work in the mailroom. I.N. died in 1941, leaving Lowell at the helm of the Findlay Publishing Co. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Harold returned to the newspaper in 1947 and led the company into broadcasting by purchasing radio station WFIN from the Fred Hover estate. Hover had put the station on air in 1941. Ed joined the family operations in 1952, being primarily involved in the newspaper and business end of the operation. As each one joined the business, each Heminger brought their own brand of interest and expertise. Ed said his father was first and foremost a writer and editor. With his sons on duty, Lowell gradually withdrew from business management duties and returned to writing news stories on schools, local history and editorials. He wrote more than 600 local history columns during his later years and was actively writing until the day he died in 1974. Harold and his wife moved to Florida in 1957 because of the ill health of their daughter, but he remained active in the company. Harold died in 1984. In 1973, the newspaper operations were moved from Broadway to a new building at 701 W. Sandusky St. The name of the paper returned to The Courier in 1976. Ten years later, a 100,000-foot expansion was added to the east side of the building, primarily to house the commercial printing branch of the business. The next generation of Hemingers assumed active management in the 1990s, with Karl Heminger becoming publisher and president of Findlay Publishing Co., sister Meg taking on the role of corporate secretary, and Kurt becoming vice president and business manager of the broadcast operations. In 1999, the Fostoria Review Times was purchased. Ed died in 2011, and Meg died the following year. Karl and Kurt continued running the newspaper and radio operations until December 2019, when Ogden Newspapers purchased The Courier and Review Times. A family-owned company that operates about 50 newspapers across the country, Ogden also owns nearby papers in Tiffin, Fostoria, Sandusky and Norwalk. Six days a week, The Courier's long-standing press can be seen firing up to print all five papers, with The Courier being packaged, bundled and distributed throughout the Findlay area just as it has throughout the generations.