Celebrating 150 years of The Star News
In January 1875 the Wisconsin legislature created Taylor County with Medford as its county seat.
The first newspaper in Taylor County — the Taylor County News — was published just a few months later on March 31, 1875 by brothers J.A. and F.E. Ogden. Copies of that first issue are missing, but the second issue — Vol. 1 No. 2 — published on April 7 of that year, are on microfilm and can be viewed at the Medford Library.
That second issue consisted of four pages, of six columns each. The columns were about 18 inches long and 2-1/4 inches wide. As was normal at the time, the front page was devoted entirely to national news.
Page 2 consisted of local ads and state news. Half of Page 3 was devoted to local advertising and the other half to local news. Most of the news items were only a paragraph long. There were also minutes published of the first town and judicial election in the town of Medford. At the time, the town of Medford was the only official municipality, something that the other settlements in the newly formed county soon worked to rectify.
There's also a paragraph telling of the very first wedding in Taylor County, but it doesn't say who got married. It only states that 'The first wedding in Taylor County took place at the Medford House last Saturday night. Judge Prink officiated.'
Another item tells that 'men from all over the country are flocking to Taylor County to settle. Let them come. There is room. Land is cheap. Lumber is plenty. And we want the land cultivated,' the paper states. There's also an item calling attention to a sign in the News office stating that smoking is not allowed. 'Tobacco smoke is very offensive to those who are not habituated to the use of the weed.'
Page 4 is all state, national and international news again.
Like many small-town newspaper publishers at the time, the Ogden brothers would purchase “stereotypes,” print-ready pages which were all in one mold and pre-set which would greatly speed up the printing process, since at the time type was set by hand a letter or word at a time.
The Ogden brothers published the paper for about 10 months, when one of the brothers, John, took sole possession of the paper. From the beginning the paper had a strong editorial voice with John Ogden passionate about the need for a public cemetery in the community.
Ogden began using illustrations in May 1876, showing pictures of the Centennial Exhibition buildings in Philadelphia. Thereafter, pictures of prominent people, illustrations of various types, and maps, began appearing frequently.
In 1877, subscription rates were $1.50 a year, paid in advance.
The Taylor County News got competition in March 1876 when G. L. Loope started the Taylor County Star. This paper passed to E. R. Prink a month later, and was edited by Ed Gordon and G. M. Patchen until December 1876, when S. A. Gorning became editor. Gorning was followed by E. B. Morley in June 1877, and on December 1, 1877, Singleton B. Hubbell bought both papers and
See HISTORY on page 12 combined them as the Taylor County Star and News in partnership with E. B. Morley. After about eight months, Morley left and Edgar T. Wheelock joined the paper. In September 1879, Wheelock took sole possession and ran the paper until 1895.
Wheelock proved to be a fine writer and the type of person who took a back seat to no one. He had a fiery editorial voice and a good sense of humor. The Star and News advanced rapidly under his direction, and he soon was printing an eight-page paper. There was usually around four columns of local news, headed 'Localisms,' along with a column of news from other towns on the Soo Line, which was called 'Up and Down the Line.'
The early issues contained a great deal of state, national and world news simply because there were no daily newspapers or any other way to get information in the area at the time, because there wasn't all that much local news to print, and because the small staff didn't have the time needed to both gather the news and set it in type. In those days, type was set by hand, letter by letter.
During that time the Taylor County Star and News consisted mainly of syndicated features and news taken from other newspapers. There was less than a page of local news, even after 1900. National news was listed by sections - West, East, North South - while there was also foreign news and miscellaneous feature material including serialized novels that would run the full length of a page each week. There was no local news on the front page, which was set up first, and no last-minute news. Local news wasn't placed on the front page until shortly after the turn of the century. Advertising developed slowly, but by the mid-80s there were ads on seven or eight pages in the paper, many run by local merchants.
The local newspaper has always served as a way to connect people during times of crisis. This was evident early on in the Spanish American War where servicemen from Taylor County took part in the conflict in Cuba. Correspondence from soldiers with ties to Taylor County gave a glimpse of their lives and conditions in Cuba at the time.
For the next several years, thanks to the development of the lumbering industry, the opening of free homestead lands, immigration and colonization agencies, letters from friends and relatives, and the newly established Wisconsin Central Railroad, a steady stream of settlers put down their roots in Taylor County.
Patent medicine ads were big in those days. One such ad claimed to cure kidney disorders, weak nerves, rheumatism, Bright's disease, diabetes, liver trouble, constipation, malaria, and just about everything else.
A staunch Republican, Wheelock ran the speeches of the Republican candidate for president, Grover Cleveland, on the front page - word for word - while the Democratic candidate got little or no mention. And he headed an article on Cleveland's inauguration 'The Great Day,' with five headlines and subheads, along with an entire page of news.
The feature attraction of the paper, though, was a battle between Wheelock and Joseph Brucker, the editor of Medford's German paper - Der Waldbote. Wheelock attacked Brucker, and even the county treasurer, John Gay, over rights to print the county's delinquent tax list. Both papers wanted this right because about $600 in revenue was involved - this would be the equivalent of about $23,000 in revenue today.
In one issue, Wheelock roared: 'The Waldbotte is an ass,' and proceeded to viciously tear apart both the paper and its editor. He even hit the county treasurer, writing: 'John Gay hasn't been sued yet, and is allowed to walk around on the streets. He should be thankful that he is permitted to live.'
Wheelock's crowning touch was: 'We never yet have thought that the editor of the Waldbotte was a fool, but if he continues to attempt to express himself in English - horrible English at that - the conviction will be forced upon us that he is either an idiot or a lunatic.
The Star News has been located at 116 S. Wisconsin Ave. since moving into the building in 1959. In 2019, the front entryway was extensively remodeled bridging the paper and community’s past with its future.
Current publisher Kris O'Leary and her husband and Printing Supervisor Kevin Flink are active in the day-to- day running of the business.
Carol O'Leary and the late J.A. O'Leary brought The Star News back into family ownership when thye purchased it in 1986. Both Carol and J.A. O'Leary are inductees in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Hall of Fame.
