Incredibly, tiny Crawfordsville, Indiana hangs on to two DAILY newspapers.
By Kevin Williams
This is a topic that I was interested in years and years ago. Â I wrote a piece for Delta Airlines Sky Magazine back in the mid-90s about two-newspaper towns. Â That was still a time when newspapers were quite viable, but the economics were, indeed, shifting. Â They were shifting in a way that was bludgeoning the concept of a town having two daily print newspapers, but the one-newspaper town was still thriving.
These are towns that I can specifically remember having two newspapers when I started in this business back in 1990:
MUNCIE: Â This one blows me away, but tiny Muncie, Indiana once had two newspapers: the Evening Press and the Muncie Star. Â The Star was far bigger. Â Other cities and towns that held on with two papers well into the 1990s include:Â Tulsa, Albuquerque, El Paso, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, Miami, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, and probably others had two papers. Â Now, out of all of the ones on the list above only Fort Wayne's two newspapers endure. Â And in many of these cities even one newspaper is barely hanging on. But, crazily, there is another Indiana town that still has two print newspapers. Â You'd think it might be South Bend or Indianapolis or even Evansville. Â Nope. Â Add Evansville to the list of towns above that had two papers, the Press and the Courier. Today only the Courier survives. Â No, today, Crawfordsville, Indiana, population, 15, 000, has two daily newspapers.
I wrote about Crawfordsville and their two newspapers a couple of years ago. Â Click here to read my whole article.
Honolulu and Anchorage also held on to two newspapers well into the 2000s, but they ultimately couldn't make it. Â How tiny Crawfordsville manages to do so is a mystery to me.
Are any of our Amish365 readers in a two-newspaper town?
Veronica Spencer
Awesome article! I live in THE county pictured in this article, as I read both papers. I live just a few miles south of Crawfordsville, IN. Love your articles, and I can relate to the Amish, since we live fairly close to Parke County. Love how I can recreate their wonderful recipes. Keep up the good work! 🙂
Kevin
Envious, Veronica, I have never been to Parke County. I can't believe I have not, that is one Amish settlement that is on my "wish list" to visit because it is relatively close to me, that'd be an easy day trip