Legacy of local journalism continues today, 150 years after Watchman’s first issue

Editor’s Note: The following information on the history of The Panola Watchman comes from newspaper articles over the years and from a master’s degree thesis written by Susan Metcalf prepared on the 100th anniversary of the newspaper in 1973. Her thesis, “The Panola Watchman – A Century for Old Reliable – 18731973,” was in pursuit of a master’s degree at Stephen F. Austin State University."

Thomas Martin Bowers Sr. was a bewhiskered 36-year-old former Confederate colonel and journalist when he moved back to Carthage in 1873 to start the Panola Watchman, his second attempt at editing a paper in Panola County, according to Susan Metcalf, in her 1973 college thesis.

Before the Civil War broke out, he started the Carthage Banner, which may have been the county’s first newspaper. That paper ceased publication when its young editor enlisted in the Confederate Army. When the war ended, Col. Bowers moved back to Madisonville, Kentucky, where he started the Madisonville Times, which he published until 1871, when he returned to Marshall to work.

The first edition of the Panola Watchman was published by Bowers on July 3, 1873. Volume 1, No. 1 appeared without a local news item on the front page, Metcalf said. Lead stories of that four-page edition included lengthy articles entitled “The new president of France” and “Why Aunt Sallie Never Married,” along with a poem. No pictures were used due to the fact that photography was in its infancy and the photographic reproduction in newspapers did not become a reality until 1880.

In that first edition Bowers addressed his potential readers, and stated that the newspaper would be a “warm and zealous advocate of the principles of the old time honored Democratic Party.”

As editor and publisher of the county’s only paper, he faced a multiplicity of problems, Metcalf said. Transportation and communications systems in the county were primitive, and most of the necessary equipment for publishing a newspaper was crude. There were no telephones or automobiles, and potential readers were scattered over a wide territory.

For this reason, the Watchman, as well as other

East Texas newspapers, became dependent upon less-localized subject matter for the major portion of their news content.

The colonel was credited with playing a significant role in the Texas constitution since the editorial columns of the Panola Watchman were quoted more often than any other newspaper in drafting the 1875 constitution.

Metcalf said after the colonel and his family left Carthage in early 1884; information about the family is sparse, but research indicates it was a nomadic life for the pioneer journalist until his retirement in 1906.

Following Bowers, and over the coming decades, several other publishers of the Watchman led the newspaper. They included, T.E. Boren, Jasper Collins, J.M. Dean, O.P. Carswell, R.M. Park, Marcus Park, J.T. Hollis, J.R. Owens, Neal Estes and Clemo Clements.

In her thesis, Metcalf said the Watchman gained the nickname “Old Reliable” and was often referred to in that way for the newspaper’s first 100 years.

“Through its editorials, news stories, and photographs the Watchman has encouraged the economic, cultural and social development of Panola County along with its reporting of the

| continued from 5 news,” Metcalf said. advertising manager of the Panola Watchman, was promoted to the publisher’s position in 1998, shepherding the paper through the ASP Westward to M.Roberts Media ownership changes. He served in that role until 2018, when Jerry Pye was named publisher in December 2018.

In December 1915, under the ownership of the Park family and Publisher R.M. Park, the Watchman purchased the paper’s first linotype machine and effectively made the switch from the antiquated and slow handset method of setting type to linotype, or hot type.

On July 15, 1948, the Watchman published a centennial edition on Panola County with historical data and pictures tracing the county’s heritage and history.

The newspaper published a 72-page edition tracing the county history, including the creation of Panola College in 1947.

Among the many changes which had taken place under Editor and Publisher Neal Estes’s tenure from 1931 to 1951 was the influential location of a $15 million gas distillate plant, which was located in Carthage. This alone had a tremendous impact on the county’s economy and population.

Neal Estes sold “Old Reliable” on Jan. 17, 1951 to three Carthage businessmen: Neal Powers, an attorney; Phil Goodwin, an automobile dealer; and Herman Jacobs, a banker.

They brought in Clemo Clements, ad manager for the Gilmer Mirror, to be editor and publisher. The new owners incorporated the Panola Publishing Company for 50 years with a capital stock of $50,000. Clements invested $18,000 in the corporation and received one third, or 333 shares of the stock. Within two years he was able to gain complete ownership of the newspaper.

Within a few years of Clements’ arrival in Carthage, the newspaper office was moved to its present location at 109 W. Panola St. to accommodate the newspaper’s need for more space.

In 1963, James Smith became a co-owner of the Panola Watchman and held the publisher’s title until his death in 1973, when his wife, Doris, took over the publisher’s position. James Smith’s tenure included the introduction of a Sunday newspaper in November 1973, taking the Watchman’s publication days to twice a week.

Ted Leach joined the newspaper as editor in July 1971. He and others created the free tabloid Panola County Post, and Leach left the Watchman in March 1973. Leach was one of four co-founders of the Panola County Post, the county’s second weekly newspaper. Leach sold his interest in the Post to Loyd Grissom, publisher of The East Texas Light and The Timpson Times in Tenaha in June 1973.

Grissom would later become publisher of the Watchman and continued his tenure until 1992, when he sold the publication to Westward Communications of Houston. Westward Communications later became ASP Westward, and in 2012 sold the Watchman (along with the Longview News-Journal and the Marshall News Messenger) to Texas Community Media, which would later rename itself M.Roberts Media. M. Roberts Media also publishes the Longview News-Journal, Tyler Morning Telegraph, Victoria Advocate, ETX View magazine, M. Roberts Digital and TCM Printing. Stephen McHaney serves as president.

Pye served as publisher until his announced retirement in September 2021. In November 2021, Alexander Gould was named publisher. He remains in that role today.

Carthage native Meredith Shamburger was named editor of the newspaper in July 2018 and currently serves in that role.

Among the notable changes in recent years is a 2016 grant totalling $17,660 awarded to the Sammy Brown Library to digitize the Panola Watchman archives. What was previously on microfiche and compiled in bound books can now be accessed online at the University of North Texas’s Portal to Texas History website.