A veteran newspaperman once shared some advice that has stuck with me: Remember that a newspaper belongs to its community, not to you.
As the manager of The Columbian-Progress, therefore, I see myself as a steward responsible for keeping alive and growing a tradition of service to the community. As it says in the Bible, “It is required of stewards that they be found faithful.” That’s something I take very seriously.
This newspaper has a legacy that dates back to before the turn of the 20th century. That’s a long time for one business to continue and is really a remarkable success story. I researched some of that history for a talk I gave recently to the Kiwanis Club and thought it would be interesting for readers to know the background of their newspaper.
The story begins with a tornado that hit Monticello on April 22, 1882. That natural disaster caused S.H. Dale, just 17, to move to Columbia to publish Marion County’s first newspaper. The Pearl River News, assisted by his brother, Joseph, and other family. It was printed in the former Masonic Temple, southwest of the current courthouse near where the jail is now. A pressman, probably Dale himself, hand cranked out the four pages, which was set in all 11-point type, both headlines and body copy.
Another paper, The Columbian, started in 1901. When The Pearl River News folded in 1905, Joseph Dale took over The Columbian, keeping a line of continuity from the original ownership. The Columbian continued under several different owners in multiple locations downtown for the next 30 years.
Meanwhile, The Marion County Progress was established in 1909 by Joe Dale on Second Street. It passed to three different owners, and all its files were lost at one point when the building burned.
For two years there was a third newspaper, The Courier, published by Judge H.F. Banks.
“Only the publication of legal notices kept a newspaper alive, Judge Banks, commented until in recent years the city began making marked and rapid strikes of progress and improved modes of transportation opened avenues in other places and Columbia merchants began advertising on a more extensive scale to keep trade at home. In the old days, according to the judge, an editor had to live in his own shop and do his own cooking to make both ends meet,” according to a history of the newspaper published in 1994.
That was kind of how the newspaper business went in Columbia through 1935 — several small publications, each struggling to exist. But that year Lem Pittman sold The Marion County Progress to Lester Williams, publisher of The Tylertown Times and president of the Mississippi Press Association. Williams then made a deal with W.C. Callender, owner of The Columbian, and The Columbia n-Progress was born. Callender said at the time that it had long been a dream of his to see one newspaper capable of giving the city and county the best service.
The building that still houses The C-P was completed in 1936 at 318 Second St., and Williams updated the printing equipment and news coverage. The paper played a prominent part in the development of the city, and it gained national attention for a program Williams started called “Food for Freedom” during World War II. He also purchased the WCJU radio station in 1946 and started The Sunday Mirror, which ran from the 1940s through 1959. It was revived in 1981 and was changed in 1987 to be a weekend edition of The C-P.
Williams died in 1976, and his family sold the paper in 1980 to John O. Emmerich, publisher of the Greenwood Commonwealth and a native of McComb where his father, Oliver Emmerich, established and ran the Enterprise-Journal for 55 years. After John Emmerich died in 1995, his son, Wyatt, took over ownership of the company and continues as president today.
The Columbian-Progress has continued under the Emmerich family’s ownership for 39 years after 45 years by the Williams family. It’s a six-time winner of the prestigious General Excellence award as top weekly newspaper in the state from the Mississippi Press Association: 1946, 1948, 1950, 1982, 1983 and 2014. I’m proud to be able to work for a family like the Emmerichs and to be entrusted with helping carry on the long tradition of a successful business like The C-P.
Charlie Smith is editor and publisher of The Columbian-Progress. Reach him at (601) 736-2611 or csmith@columbianprogress.com.
