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The Catskill Mountain News was an American weekly newspaper serving the towns and surrounding environs of Margaretville, Andes, Roxbury and Delaware County, New York.[1] With a final circulation of 3,600,[1] it was both the oldest and the largest paper in the area, latterly available in print and on-line editions.[2] It was independently owned and operated until its last publication in 2020.[3]
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Joan Lawrence-Bauer |
| Editor | Joan Lawrence-Bauer. |
| Founded | 1863 |
| Ceased publication | January 22, 2020 |
| Headquarters | Arkville, New York, United States |
| Circulation | 3,600 copies |
| OCLC number | 8433945 |
| Website | catskillmountainnews |
The News traces its roots to the founding of the Utilitarian in 1863.[1] The first newspaper in the town of Margaretville, the paper was published by Orson M. Allaben.[4][5] After passing through a number of hands it was purchased by the Catskill Mountain News.
In 1894, the Margaretville Messenger was founded by a stock company, which hired as editor John Grant.[4] It continued to 1902, when it was sold to W. E. Eells, who renamed it the Catskill Mountain News.[4] When Eells died suddenly, just two years later, Clarke Sanford, a local schoolteacher, approached his widow about the paper.[6][7] Eells's widow offered to let Sanford run it on credit. If he were to make a profit, he would pay her the purchase price; if not, she would reclaim the paper. Sanford agreed to the terms and after a tough initial few years made good on the loan.[6]
Sanford would run the paper for over 60 years,[6] presiding over the expansion of the newspaper. In 1918, he purchased the Utilitarian, altering the News's numbering to date back to that paper's 1863 founding.[4][8] He also invested in updated Linotype printing, and changed locations as the paper grew.[4]
The paper would be passed on to Clarke's son Roswell, on his death in 1964. In turn it was passed to Roswell's son Richard D. Sanford.[9] By 1990, the paper was struggling, which the younger Sanford believed was a result of low overall economic activity in New York's more rural areas.[9] Sanford noted that with shopping increasingly being concentrated in larger stores in more central cities, advertising in rural towns was less sustaining: "Stamford is about 25 miles out of Oneonta, and the growth of the Oneonta market has had a corresponding negative impact on the retail industry in Stamford."[9] He went on to note the future of the publication was a relentlessly local focus, and that of the weeklies he published Catskill Mountain News was the most robust.[9]
In 2017, the paper was sold to Joan Lawrence-Bauer,[8][10] a former writer for the News.[10]
The News ended publication in 2020.
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