The Niles Daily News was published
in the left-half of this building located on South Main Street. |
Newspapers
Played an Important Part in Development of the Niles Community.
In the civic and educational life of the
Niles community the press has long played an important part. The
first paper, ‘The Niles Register,’ established in
1867 by E.E. Moore and Edward Butler, survived
for only six months. The second venture, ‘The Niles Independent,’
of M.D. Sanderson became the ‘Niles Home Record’
in 1872 and was among the many Niles establishments forced to
close by the Ward failure and the depression.
In 1875, Sanderson started ‘The Trumbull
County Independent’ which continued until 1917. It was an
eight page weekly paper, about two-thirds the size of a modern
daily. With the exception of several columns of local news on
page five, the entire paper, including the first page was devoted
to advertisements with a few commercial columns of national news
and curiosities on each page.
The first daily, ‘The Niles Daily News,’
appeared in 1890. It was an eight page paper, one 20 inches by
12 inches in dimensions. The Niles Daily News was published in
the left-half of the building located on South Main Street heading
down towards the Mahoning River and the Pennsylvania Railroad
tracks. The East Ohio Gas Company occupied the right-half of the
first floor while upstairs the Order of the Red Man Club held
its meetings.
‘The Niles Register’ was established
in 1921 and continued a short time.
In 1924, ‘The Niles Daily Times’
was established. The present proprietors, Milton and
James Wick took over the paper in 1926.
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Built in 1922 to house the Knights
of Pythias, this building was known to most of us as The Daily
Times Building. |
The
Knights of Pythias was founded in Washington D.C. in 1864.The
cardinal principles of the organization are friendship, charity,
and benevolence. It strives to gather into one fraternity men
who appreciate the true meaning of friendship as Damon showed
Pythias in Greek literature.
The Niles lodge was instituted in 1882 and first
met in the old Odd Fellows Hall then located on South Main Street.
The lodge then moved to this building on West State Street.
The sandstone blocks near the top of the building
have the markings: K of P
1922 engraved into the stones. The markings identify
the building as being erected by The Knights of Pythias and dedicated
in 1922.
Demolition of the blighted and vacant Niles Times
Building began August 2, 2021. The building would have become
100 years old in January 2022. |
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From
1922 to 1993, The Niles Daily Times (later Niles Times) was a
newspaper in the city. In 1993, the building closed, and the city
purchased it three years later. For several years, the water department
called the building home, and some of the building was used for
storage of various documents ranging from court dockets to tax
records.
In 2018 the building was deemed unsafe and the
water department moved out. Since then the building has been vacant.
The new space will be used to provide new parking for the future
revitalization of the downtown businesses. Nathaniel
Hawthorne, Tribune staff writer
Corner
stone of the Knights of Pythias Building built in 1922. |
The Niles Daily Times building.
The building with the Niles Water Department
storage area added to the west side. |
A sampling of three
editions of the Niles Daily Times, 1934, 1959, and 1990, reveal
why the daily newspaper was so essential. The community newspaper
provided information about National, State and most especially
local news– who was getting married, who died, local sports,
advice, and local business ads, and all featured information about
the families that lived in Niles.
A list of topics from the October 22, 1934 edition:
Town Talk with James Wick, 5–10–15 Years
Ago, a full page of Society & Club news featuring dances,
birthdays, church notes, sick list, births, deaths, wedding showers,
engagements, a page of world news in photos, a full page of local
and national sports, a full page with the school newspaper The
HiCrier, radio station program lists, cross–word puzzle,
and a comics section with a Magazine Column showing fashions for
women.
The October 27, 1959 Niles Daily Times edition
cost 5 cents compared to the 1934 paper which cost 2 cents. Added
to the list are Temperatures, Dear Abby, a larger editorial page
and national editorials, Town Talk is now by Agnes Lopatta,
sports now appears on two pages, TV listings and show reviews,
and a page of classified ads.
The newspaper edition for November 15, 1990 is
now published by Phoenix Publications. New features are: Sound
Off, Letters to the Editor, a Dining and Entertainment page, and
Health and Fitness topics.
The demise of the local newspaper written by
people who lived in the Niles community is sad, especially when
you consider today’s social media as its replacement. |