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"In looking o'er the past, we find that in 1858 our paper was edited and issued by C.R. Brown, who then gave it the name of Pioneer, and for a while it circulated with a marked degree of success;  but as this was the first paper ever published in the place, it adjourned sine die.  After this no paper was issued until Mr. Kenton, in 1862 (now of the Marysville Democrat), started the Enterprise, a lively sheet, with a circulation of about 300;  this survived a twelve-month and ended.  

In the spring of 1863, Mr. S.S. Bloom made a purchase of the Enterprise, and became associated with Mr. Baltzley (then of the Plymouth Advertiser) in publishing the Express.  But a political difference arising out of a hot campaign then coming on, a dissolution followed before a number was issued.  The Express was circulated, however, about one year, and then boxed up for more healthy quarters.  The following spring (1864) a new press was brought to Shelby on the same day the Express left.  Another party having ordered a new press, this one was offered if he would not purchase.  Whereupon, a Mr. W. Glover and Mr. Bloom issued semi occasionally a paper called the Gazette.  This was continued until the Chronicle made its appearance, by Messrs. Young & Hill, in the spring of 1867;  this continued about 18 months, with a circulation of some 300, then failed, the firm becoming tangled.  The press was bought by Mr. S.S. Bloom and on the 12th. of Oct., 1868, the Shelby Independent News dates commencement.  The first year the circulation reached nearly 600.  About this time Mr. T.H. Barkdull commenced the publication of the Gazette, and a hot contest for the supremacy followed, lasting nearly four years, when the Gazette succumbed to the News -- the only paper in Shelby, with a circulation of over 1000, and steadily increasing.  The editor, although a strong partisan, has conducted the paper in such a way as to meet the demands of the advancing times, and to the satisfaction of all parties.  With  the increase of the circulation, and what it has gained since 1858, after having passed through the wants and woes of successive editors and reporters, there need be no fear of it not becoming adapted to the unanticipated and perpetually varying condition of mankind."

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