One of our newspaper’s most important responsibilities is to record local history.
We collect the pieces every day and present them to you each morning in the News-Democrat. Over the years, these daily reports about people, issues and events become the foundation of the region’s history.
The News-Democrat started that process 150 years ago. It has been telling the story of Belleville and Southwestern Illinois since Jan. 16, 1858, the day the Rev. Dr. Williamson F. Boyakin published the first edition of the Belleville Weekly Democrat.
Beginning Wednesday, we will mark the newspaper’s 150th anniversary with a series of monthly special sections about the region’s history since 1858. The anniversary theme is “Our History is Your History,” because the history of the newspaper is really the history of Southwestern Illinois.
The first four-page section, in this Wednesday’s newspaper, will be about the News-Democrat, but it will be more than a tale of presses, ink and newsprint. It will introduce you to people who built our paper from the ground up and led it through decades of tumultuous change. And it will talk about the paper today, its place in our community and its future.
Incidentally, the lead writer is Roger Schlueter, a veteran News-Democrat journalist who covers health and entertainment but is best known as The Answer Man and moderator of many a trivia night in the metro-east.
Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Roger wrote his first story for the News-Democrat as a high school sophomore nearly 40 years ago. Sounds like just the right journalist to tell you about the newspaper’s history.
The section about the newspaper will be followed by other monthly history-themed sections.
The Feb. 20 section, for example, will explore life here 150 years ago. Where did people live? Where did they work? What did things cost?
The other themes and their publication dates are: religion, March 19; weather and natural disasters, April 16; public life and public service, May 21; sports, entertainment and famous people, June 18; health and medicine, July 16; education, Aug. 20; where we work, Sept. 17; our ethnic heritage, Oct. 15; the metro-east at war, Nov. 12; and a wrap-up section, Dec. 10.
We’re working on the upcoming sections and would love to hear what you think should be included. Please send your ideas to jcouch@bnd.com.
In the meantime, enjoy Wednesday’s installment.
