A brief history of The Hancock Clarion

The Hancock Clarion has provided hometown news consistently since March 1893. It has changed owners, presses and technology, but it has remained a weekly newspaper for Hancock County for 131 years.

In the early decades, editors and publishers kept the newspaper going through lean times and long hours. Type was set by hand and pages were printed on hand-powered presses. The newspaper was printed on Saturdays and delivered by horse, and many ads ran unchanged because resetting type was slow work.

The first editor was Clarence Sterett, who started the Clarion with co-owner John W. Maston. After Maston died in 1895, Sterett continued as sole owner, with help from his three sons. The Clarion later passed through the hands of publishers including John G. Kelly, Kelly’s daughter Mary Agnes Ogle, John W. Maston Jr. and Clarence S. Bruner.

My family’s connection began when my great-grandfather, Roscoe Irvine Downs, bought the Clarion in 1945. He was born in Livermore and spent years in the newspaper world, including work as an editorial writer for the U.S. Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. He later authored a novel titled “This Fair Eden,” published by Greenwich Book Publishers, Inc. in 1961.

He and my great-grandmother, Winnie, both had ties to the Hancock County area and eventually settled in Hawesville, where the Clarion became his work and his way to advocate for local projects.

Their daughter, Bernice “Bertie” Wimmer, and her husband, Paul Richard Wimmer, moved to Hawesville with their children Donn, Richard “Dick” and Patricia after a fire destroyed their home and farm in Virginia. Paul met the family through Bertie’s brother, Cullen, at the local airport. Cullen invited him to dinner, and that is how they were introduced.

Paul and Bernice bought land from the Lamar family and lived on the property. Paul envisioned turning part of the land into a lake, and he and his sons began the work. Hancock County purchased the land 50 years ago this year and developed it into Vastwood Park.

Bernice went to work at the newspaper, and readers especially liked her column, “Pertinent and Impertinent.” She worked at the Clarion until her retirement in 1977. Paul was a U.S. Navy veteran who farmed and worked a full-time job to support the family when they lived in Virginia, and he carried those skills with him when they moved to Hawesville. He also used his abilities as a machinist to help keep the presses running when needed. He died in 1966, and Bernice died in 2003.

Their son, my dad, the late Donn K. Wimmer, started working at The Hancock Clarion when he was a young teenager. He grew up learning the work from his grandfather. Roscoe sold the newspaper to Ernest M. Lawson in 1952 and bought it back four years later.

Donn met Juanita, who was from Hawesville, and they married when they were both only 16. The couple, along with their first child, Suzanne, moved to New Mexico for a short time so he could see how other newspapers were run and gain experience at another small newspaper. The neighborhood where they lived was called Vastwood, prompting the name for the family land in Hawesville. This portion is based on what I recall from accounts Dad, Mom and Bertie shared.

Juanita worked at the Clarion in the office and at home over the years, helping with paperwork and tasks tied to both the newspaper and Dad’s photography business. Many other members of our family worked at the office. Patricia and Dick’s daughter, Debbie Wimmer, both spent time as employees of the Clarion, helping with office work and coverage. Linda Kay Wimmer Dillon sold advertising, wrote articles and helped in the office for many years, on and off. Steven Downs Wimmer has served for many years as sports editor and photographer.

As I was growing up, I helped with some of those photography and office tasks as well. In the 1990s, I began my first stint at the Clarion, working in the office with typesetting, proofreading and learning how to report and write articles. I have worked full-time for the Clarion since Jan. 1, 2020, doing my reporting and writing remotely.

There have been more writers than I can name here, but a few were with the Clarion for many years. Sam Roberts spent the longest stretch as a writer and was a steady, dedicated presence in its pages, working alongside Dad for many years. Sonya L. Dixon was also among the writers whose work readers remember. Ralph Dickerson later worked for the Clarion for many years before moving on to serve as an editor at another newspaper.

Dave Taylor worked for the Clarion as well, and after he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer he continued to share an account of his final months in an award-winning column titled “What I Learned from Dying,” later collected in a book his widow, Jamie Taylor, published.

Growing up around the newspaper, I spent a lot of time at the office. I loved being old enough to walk from Hawesville Elementary School down to the Clarion, spend time with Dad and ride home with him in time for dinner. Back then, ads were designed on graph paper. Stock images were selected from large books, carefully cut out, run through a glue roller and placed. Many tasks took longer then, and as soon as dinner was over, Dad was back at the office working until late.

All of that work grew out of a long stretch of family ownership. When Dad was 21, he and Roscoe took on ownership of the Clarion together, with Roscoe helping secure the loan in 1956. Roscoe passed away in 1975, and Donn went on to serve as owner and editor of The Hancock Clarion for more than 65 years.

He guided the newspaper through changes in equipment and in how people received their news and stayed closely involved in the weekly work. He was part of local efforts that helped lead to the creation of the Hancock County Industrial Foundation and to development work for the establishment of both Jeffreys Cliffs and Vastwood Park.

At home, the newspaper was part of everyday life. When I was growing up, Dad had a scanner in our house so he could go out when there were fires, wrecks or other emergencies. Many times I jumped into the van and rode with him when he took pictures at those scenes or events, and I enjoyed being his “running buddy” because, as a young child, it made me feel important. Our dinner table conversations often centered on what had happened that week and what needed to be covered next.

Donn’s great-niece, Chelsea Wimmer Boling, bought The Hancock Clarion shortly before he died in June 2024. He worked until his last months and never formally retired. He wanted to sell the newspaper only to someone who would keep it a newspaper and keep it in Hancock County. He knew more people were reading news online, but he also knew many still want to hold a newspaper in their hands. Keeping this weekly alive was part of his devotion to the community and to small newspapers.

Today, The Hancock Clarion still prints each week under Chelsea’s ownership. The presses and layout have changed over time, but the newspaper continues the work that began in 1893.