Texas Almanac, 1968-1969 Page: 31
[706] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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TEXAS' OLDEST BUSINESS INSTITUTION
The year 1967 brought two milestones in
Texas publishing of historic significance. On
April 11, Texas' oldest business institution,
publisher of The Dallas Morning News and
the Texas Almanac, observed its 125th anni-
versary. Earlier, January marked the 110th
anniversary of the first edition of the Texas
Almanac.
The parent organization of these two pub-
lications, the A. H. Belo Corporation, also
owns and operates Radio Station WFAA,
established on June 26, 1922; and WFAA-TV,
which began operation for that firm on March
17, 1950.
All of these enterprises make up Commun-
ications Center, in Dallas on land originally
farmed by John Neely Bryan, founder of
that city. Communications Center is pictured
on the back cover of this publication.
These communication facilities had their
beginnings while Texas was a Republic, on
the island of Galveston. There, in a one-
room shack on April 11, 1842, Samuel Bangs
used a hand press to produce a 4-page news-
paper, The Galveston News.
Except for brief periods of catastrophe,
continuous publication of The Galveston News
and its corporate successor, The Dallas
1Iorning News, make this the beginning of
Texas' oldest business institution and of com-
munications services widely recognized as a
major influence In the development of Texas
for more than a century.
Samuel Bangs was a roving printer, more
concerned with the printing business than
editorial achievement, and his association
with The Galveston News was brief. His
small newspaper suffered financially through
several changes of ownership until 1844
when it was acquired by Willard Richard-
son, the first of the men who were to be-
come builders of this unique enterprise.
Under Richardson's guidance, from 1844 to
1875, The Galveston News became firmly
established as a Texas newspaper unexcelled
in readership and editorial influence.
Richardson also founded the Texas Al-
manac, to attract and inform new settlers.
Many of these newcomers valued the Bible
and the Texas Almanac as their only books.
Today, while greatly enlarged and modern-
ized, the Texas Almanac preserves the basic
ideas of its founder and continues to be a
standard reference, often called "The En-
cyclopedia of Texas."Of Richardson, the Texas State Historical
Association's authoritative "Handbook of
Texas" says, in part: "Richardson's career
was devoted persistently and unequivocally
to certain fundamentals: the rights of the
people must be preserved at all costs; the
strength of the American union rests upon
the rights of the states; injustice and intol-
erance must be stamped out no matter what
the price."
Among the marks of greatness in Rich-
ardson was his recognition of the ability of
others whom he brought to The News. One
example of this was when Hamilton Stuart,
pioneer publisher of a rival newspaper, The
Galveston Civilian, which had long opposed
Richardson's policies, joined The News and
became a lifelong friend.
Even more significant in Texas publish-
ing history was the addition to the staff of
Col. A. H. Belo in 1865, a decade before Rich-
ardson's death. A North Carolinian who had
served in the Confederate Army, Colonel Belo
not only shared Richardson's vision of the
potentialities of eastern and coastal Texas,
but saw opportunities far into the interior,
then largely unsettled and still inhabited by
Indians.
Colonel Belo chose young, able George
Bannerman Dealey of his staff to select an
interior city in which to establish a news-
paper. That young man became the third key
builder of Texas' best-known newspaper. The
son of George Dealey, an English immigrant,
who came to Texas after financial reverses
in Manchester, George B. Dealey was 11
when he arrived In America. He became of-
fice boy and messenger at The News when
15 years of age. His ambition, ability and
energy soon attracted the attention of Rich-
ardson and Belo, who advanced him rapidly
in the 10 years before he was assigned to
select a second city for operations of The
News.
G. B. Dealey's recommendation that the
paper be established in Dallas resulted in
the publication of the first issue of The Dal-
las Morning News on Oct. 1, 1885.
The Dallas Herald, which John W. Lati-
mer had established in 1849, was soon after-
ward purchased and consolidated with The
News. Thus, The Dallas Morning News, as a
business institution, dates its origin to the
original founding on April 11, 1842, In Galves-
ton; but carries on its front page a volumeSeals and inscriptions on elevator doors of The News tell of the founding of "Texas' Oldest
Business Institution" and the establishment of The Dallas Morning News.
31
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Texas Almanac, 1968-1969, book, 1967; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113809/m1/33/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.