Entering the 20th century, both Emmitsburg and Thurmont had solidly established newspapers keeping them informed about what was going on in town and the country.
The Emmitsburg Chronicle would become Emmitsburg’s longest-running newspaper. Started in 1879 by Samuel Motter, the newspaper was published weekly, except from a hiatus during World War I and War II, through February 9, 1977.
Motter died on March 21, 1889 and his widow took over the paper. Following a couple of interim owners, Sterling Galt purchased the newspaper in 1906. When Fred Debold killed Edward Smith in the mountains near Emmitsburg on August 8, 1906, Galt published an extra issue of the Chronicle. It was the first extra ever published and gave the community the story of the murder hours after it happened.
The newspaper’s name changed to The Weekly Chronicle in 1909. The paper suspended publication in June 1917 because of World War I. In the last editorial before it suspended publication, Galt wrote about his pride in the newspaper and the way it handled the issues of the day.
“By the unbiased it will be conceded, we think, that The Chronicle has neither dodged issues nor avoided them entirely by silence. True it is that for what it conceived to be for the good of the community and out of consideration for the finer feelings of many within it, much that might have been published was omitted,” Galt wrote.
Galt died on December 28, 1922. The Baltimore Sun had said of him a few years earlier that Galt was “a man who loved the smell of printer’s ink and preferred the life of a working, fighting country editor to the daily grind of the metropolitan newspaper office. He was possessed of many of the fine qualities of the old-time newspaper man and his individuality soon began to express itself in every line of the newspaper. His artistic typographical taste, his sense of humor, his cleverness as a writer, his stand for good government and his youthful enthusiasm and energy made the Chronicle stand out among the weeklies of the country as a model for many of his contemporaries.”
Under his editorship, The Weekly Chronicle was considered one of the best weekly newspapers in the state, according to editorials in other newspapers.
Following Galt’s death, the newspaper passed through a couple different owners before John Elder and Michael Thompson purchased the Emmitsburg Chronicle in 1922. They moved the newspaper from its East Main Street Office to the old schoolhouse on what is now South Seton Avenue.
Elder became the sole owner in 1927 and continued publishing the paper until his death on January 31, 1943. After Elder died, the paper went on hiatus for five years during WWII before being restarted by Elder’s son Charles and Edward Stull.
In Thurmont, the Catoctin Clarion continued publishing weekly until 1940 when it ceased publication, thus ending the 69-year publishing history.
The struggles of both small papers around the time of World War II came about in part because of advances in communications and changes in the way communities began to view themselves. Both newspapers had started in the era of the telegraph and train, but popularity of phones and cars made communications and travel easier. People began moving between Emmitsburg and Thurmont more easily. The distinction between communities had blurred a bit. However, the communities remain self-sustaining with no need for most people to travel beyond the boundaries. This made continuation of newspapers in each community still possible.
The Emmitsburg Chronicle resumed publication on September 16, 1948, under the guidance of C. Arthur Elder and Edward Stull.
On its return, the Emmitsburg Chronicle was facing competition from another weekly newspaper in town.
“Emmitsburg folks are wondering how they can take this feast of newspapers after fasting for five years,” the Frederick News reported at the return of the Chronicle.
Philip Hileman had started the Emmitsburg Observer earlier in 1947. He had published a similar paper in Pennsylvania that had failed during the Great Depression. The Observer was a free tabloid that was published for two years until it went under in 1949.
In March of 1948, a new newspaper started in Thurmont called the Catoctin Enterprise. It was published by George C. Rhoderick of Middletown. Blanche Eyler ran the Thurmont office.
“The ‘Enterprise’ is not a ‘fly-by-night’ institution. It has come to Thurmont to stay—to be a part of the community life and to fill, if possible, what we believe has been a deeply noticeable voice since Thurmont’s former newspaper suspended publication,” Rhoderick wrote in the newspaper’s first issue.
C. Arthur Elder became the sole owner of the Chronicle in 1958. When he died in 1971, 1971, his widow, Virginia, and son, Arthur continued publishing the newspaper until June 25, 1971. At that point, ownership passed outside of the Elder family for the newspaper’s remaining years.
The Catoctin Enterprise published until Rhoderick died in 1988. The paper was sold and continued publishing until 1991.
“Another weekly, the Glade Times Mirror also served the Thurmont area from its base in Walkersville until it ceased publication in 1996,” according to A Thurmont Scrapbook: Glimpses of History.
With the development of U.S. 15 and the ease of car travel, the personality of the communities changed. More and more residents commuted elsewhere to work. The high schools consolidated and then the middle schools did. The communities began participating in joint events, such as the annual community show. It shouldn’t be surprising that the news needs of the communities also changed.
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