Kane County, Illinois
NEWSPAPERS then and NOW
1841 - St. Charles Patriot the first newspaper in Kane County and was published by John Thomas.
Fox River Advocate
1842 - Kane County Herald - A fire wiped it out but Ira Minard went to Henepin and bought another press and supplies. The paper was then called the Fox River Advocate and edited by Dr. D.D. Waite.
1842 - Rev. William Rounseville started a newspaper and later moved it to Chicago - New Covenant.
1845 - Western Christian by Spencer Carr, Rev. A.J. Joslyn & Rev. Wareham Walker (anti-slavery & Baptist). Moved to NY and became Baptist Weekly.
August 6, 1846 - Aurora Democrat published by C and G. Ingham
1846 - The Peoples Platform - Started in Aurora but moved to St. Charles - then the larger of the communities. Continued until 1860 under various names.
1847 - Elgin Gazette - merged with The Advocate in March 1874.
June 1, 1847 - Weekly Beacon started by brothers, M.V and B.F. Hall who were bankers. Various owners until 1892 when IC COPLEY purchased it. It is now known as the Aurora Beacon News.
1851 - The Fox River Courier (short lived)
November 1852 - The Aurora Guardian
March 1858 to 1859 - Temperance Monitor operated by James P. Snell.
1853 - Elgin Palladium by Mr. Hough and later John H. Rowe & Bros.. 1855 or 56 became the Kane County Journal.
Kane County Journal, - LYMAN, J. - Printer & Publisher
185? - The Reformer (monthly) by Ellen (Beard) Harman and Augustus Harmon.
1858 - a campaign paper was published by Colonel Thomas Grosvenor & F.B. Wilkie (who went on to the Chicago Times)
Fox River Advocate, Prairie Messenger, Peoples Platform, Democratic Argus, St. Charles Argus (came and went over a 30 year period)
April 1860 - June 1861 - Temperance Tocsin
February 1861 - The Aurora Chronicle by John H. Hodder lasted 6 months.
1865 - Second District Democrat by B.W. Staniforth. This became the Elgin Chronicle, which became the Watchman.
June 1866 - 1903 - Aurora Herald by Thomas E. Hill.
1882 - 1903 - Daily Express (of Aurora)
1867 - The Aurora Weekly by Dudley Randall followed by The Aurora Argus
1868 - Volksfreund - German publication by Peter Klein. May 27, 1895 it became a daily paper.
1871 - City Life Illustrated by Dudley Randall (short duration)
1871 - Watchman & Gazette (of Elgin) merged.
1871 - St. Charles Transcript operated by S.L. Taylor. Samuel W. Durant editor. In 1873 Hiram N. Wheeler purchased it and changed the name to St. Charles Leader. The Leader moved to Elgin in 1878.
The PATROL, a Prohibition Newspaper of the 1880s edited by Joel Wheeler
The Daily Globe (1 issue) by ? Turner
The Daily News by Charles Faye and Jacob Siegmund. Faye sold his share and became manager of the Chicago Daily News.
May 1872 - Lady Elgin (monthly) by Elgin Watch Company. (See Gail Borden Library microfilm)
1874 - Elgin Times by Ed Keogh
1874 - Elgin Republic by the Dundee Citizen.
1874 - Daily Bluff City (Elgin) by Dudley Randall of Aurora
1878 - Aurora Evening Post by ? Welch who sold to Louis Constantine.
1878 - Aurora Independent - weekly by Edward Keough, previously with the Elgin Times.
1881 - 1891 Valley Chronicle by Samuel Durant
1882 - The Aurora Blade by C.W. Putnam once foreman of the Herald.
St. Charles Times
1899 - Valley Chronicle renamed St. Charles Chronicle (see St. Charles Public Library for microfilm)
1904 - The Fox River Leader - weekly- by Charles Connors and John G. Badey.
Labor paper - Aurora Trades and Labor Assembly by Aurora Building Trades' Council and Elgin Trades' Council.
1908 - The Elgin Advocate (start date unavailable) by Lowrie & Black
1908 - Elgin Daily News by Lowrie & Black
1908 - Elgin Daily Courier
1908 - Elgin Evening Press
1908 - Elgin Herald - Germania by Adolph Fischer (German language)
1908 - Elgin Dairy Report by W.D. Willson
1908 - Gospel Messenger (religion) pub. in Elgin
Current Newspapers
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Aurora Beacon News 101 South River Street, Aurora, IL 60506 (630) 844-5844
Daily Herald 440 Airport Road # H, Elgin, IL 60123 (847) 608-2700
El Conquistador 1135 Sunbury Road, South Elgin, IL 60177 (847) 697-3533
Elburn Herald 123 North Main Street, Elburn, IL 60119 (630) 365-6446 Excellent Resource On-line. Founded 1908 - Old issues are available on microfilm at the Town & County Library in Elburn.
Record Information Service 114 North Main Street, Elburn, IL 60119 (630) 365-6490
Senior News 1296 Oakdale Drive, Elgin, IL 60123 (847) 426-5365
Vision Del Fox Valley Newspaper 12 North State Street, Elgin, IL 60123 608-1887
Plato Peptimist - high school newspaper
Newspaper Sources
ILLINOIS STATE HISTORICAL LIBRARY
Newspapers on microfilm (217) 785-7941
Database of Cataloged Newspaper Titles Search Form
Freedom of the press means no-iron clothes.
If you know of helpful links, please email the information.
Resources: Kane County History, Joslyn & Joslyn 1908; Reflections of St. Charles by Ruth Seen Pearson 1976, Personal Knowledge.
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Last Updated 7-Mar-2000 [email protected]