Okie Legacy

The First Newspaper

According to the Alva Pioneer Souvenir Edition, dated January, 1904, The Weekly Pioneer was the first paper started in Woods County, on September 18, 1893, by the present (1904) proprietor. He hustled the news and advertisements, assisted by Oscar Haberlein (in 1904 was with the Kiowa News). He then took it up to Hazelton, Kansas, 25 miles northeast of Alva, and printed the Pioneer, then brought the papers down here for the subscribers. This was done for six weeks, until he built a good building to move into.

L.B. Wilson of Crisfield, Kansas, came here September 21st, 1893, and put a little outfit in a tent and printed the first paper in Alva, The Alva Chronicle, but the Pioneer bought it in August, 1895, and consolidated it with the Pioneer.

The first republican paper, the Alva Republican, was published Feb. 9, 1894, by James Kelley and J. I. Parcell. It was bought in 1897 by the Pioneer.

In 1904 there were 26 papers published in Woods County.

Alva Pioneer Newspaper Staff