Newspaper celebrates 140th anniversary

DAVENPORT — While it has held various names over the years, the local newspaper has been printing weekly news for the citizens of Lincoln County since the late 1800s. The first issue of the then-Lincoln County Times was published Oct. 20, 1883.

And last Friday, Oct. 20, marked 140 years of newspapers here.

That first issue of the Times featured no local photography, two sketches for advertisements and a bevy of news produced by Editor Lawrence A. Inkster. The newspaper began with national news on the front page, followed by information about what citizens had been up to that week on Page 2. County news began on Page 4.

A second local newspaper, the Davenport Tribune, began printing 22 years later on Aug. 12, 1915 under Publisher and Editor Jim Goodwin. That newspaper focused more heavily on local news, with plenty of area gossip beginning on Page 3.

The Times and Tribune merged to form the Davenport Times-Tribune in 1918, which was later changed to the more commonly known Davenport Times in 1961 under Publisher W.A. Wilbur and Editor N. Russell Hill.

And the newspaper remained the Times until March 2022, when it merged with the Odessa Record to form The Lincoln County Record-Times under Publisher Roger Harnack and Managing Editor Drew Lawson, where it stands today.