The first Nashua paper, The Post, was founded in 1867--- 88 years ago, by Andy FELT, who later became Lieutenant Governor of the State of Kansas. The first edition appeared May 22 of that year [1867].

Between the time when The Post was founded and when it consolidated with The Reporter, the paper was published by:

• Joseph GRAWE, later editor of The Waverly Independent;
• Dr B.M. DEWEY,
• James W. BRADFORD, and
• Charles WALLIS.

In 1918, The Post was purchased by E.G. ELLISON, publisher of The Reporter , from Mrs WALLIS, following the death of her husband. It then became The Nashua Reporter and Weekly Post.

Mr ELLISON and Johnson M. KELLER, co-publisher of The Reporter until Mr KELLER's death in 1915, purchased The Reporter from the two women who founded it, the Misses Minnie MURRAY and Margaret GORMAN.

It's an interesting fact that Miss MURRAY was a politically famous figure who was nationally known as the "Lady in White." She had participated in the exciting political campaign of 1896 and toured the country supporting the Democratic candidate, William Jennings Bryan. Bryan lost the election to William McKinley, but Miss MURRAY was always dressed in white at her public appearances, hence she received the title, "Lady in White."

In 1898, Miss GORMAN sold her interest in The Reporter to Mr KELLER, who was co-publisher of the paper for 17 years-- until his death in 1915. He had been associated with the paper before, however, as he became foreman of the shop shortly after the two women founded it.

There was another paper in Nashua in the 1880s and 90s-- The Nashua Times, founded in 1885 by J.D. KNAPP. It was this paper's equipment that was purchased by the Misses MURRAY and GORMAN, who started The Reporter in 1893. The Times was then published by E.B. PERRY, and instead of continuing his paper, the ladies founded another one under a new name.

Mr ELLISON, publisher of The Reporter for over 42 yars, came to Nashua in 1899, when he bought Miss MURRAY's share of The Reporter. After KELLER's death in 1915, ELLISON was sole owner and publisher until 1941, when he sold it to Robert J. GOODSELL.

GOODSELL had been working in The Reporter office for some time as printer and reporter, and Mr ELLISON continued his association with him as publisher emeritus.

GOODSELL was called into the Army late in World War II, and The Reporter suspended publication for about 18 months. During this time a "free sheet" was published and distributed by a Cedar Falls print shop.

GOODSELL returned to Nashua following his military service and resumed publication in 1945. He continued the business until January 1, 1948, when he sold it to Mrs Leona BUSCHING. GOODSELL took a job as publications editor with the David C. Cook publishing company of Elgin, Illinois.

Mrs NEUNHOFFER was not a printer, and although she did an excellent job in "the front end", as the saying goes in the trade, "the back shop" was both a mystery and trial, due to the difficulty of obtaining experienced help. This lead her to sell out to B.L. FARUS in July of 1949.

FARUS became ill and was unable to run the paper. He sold out in a month's time to Bernard SMITH of Eagle Grove and returned to his home in Beresford, South Dakota.

SMITH piloted the paper until July 1, 1951, when the present owners and publishers, Mr and Mrs Tom D. CONKLIN, took over.

The CONKLINs came here from New Ulm, Minnesota, a city of approximately 10,000 population, where Tom had been managing editor of The New Ulm Daily Journal.

Mrs CONKLIN was new to the publishing field, but she displayed marked aptitude for printing and was soon able to run, expertly, every back shop machine save the typesetting machines.

The CONKLINs purchased The Fredericksburg News in September of 1951, and about a year thereafter consolidated the two print shops in Nashua. This made it necessary to move into larger quarters, the former Diamond Brothers Grocery store across the street.

Under the CONKLINs, The Nashua Reporter has grown to the greatest circulation in its history, averaging more than 1870 issues per week through the year.

The newspaper plant far exceeds that usually found in a town of 1639, which was Nashua's population in the 1950 Census. There are two linotype machines; an automatic job work press and a hand-fed job work press; a news press which prints 4 pages at one time; a strip casting machine which casts lead into strips for borders around ads and for spacing, etc; a complete photo darkroom; fluorescent lighting; and a Fairchild Scan-A-Graving machine for making halftone engravings from plastic plates; and other equipment which is the hallmark of a modern printing shop.

All the major equipment in The Reporter office has been replaced since 1951 with the exception of the original linotype machine, the work tables, and the casting box. During its 88 years, The Reporter has had four different office locations. When established in 1893, the office and printing plant were in the second story rooms of the three-story building on the west side of Main Street.