The Bristow Record
This is the First Part of a two part series. The second part will be publishd in the Aug. 26, issue of the Bristow News.
Newspapers. Many of us grew up delivering them, reading them, and saving them. They were the way we found out about births, deaths, news and sales of our community and they tied our community together in a way today’s youth may never understand. Indeed, the local newspaper chronicles the story of our lives, and we are thankful for those moments captured in print. We hope you enjoy the story of our own Bristow newspaper - originally called the “Bristow Record.”
Imagine arriving in the bustling community called the Woodland Queen, later known as Bristow, in Indian Territory in 1898. The population was around 125 people and Main Street had a dozen or so small businesses, including a blacksmith and carpenter shop. A corner lot on Main cost $20 and a lot in the middle of the block was $10. Locals chipped in to build a one room schoolhouse for the children.
Alonzo Poling, deputy sheriff for Indian Territory, arrived in town at this time and became good friends with Joe Eades, a fellow who had an empty building on Main. Neither gentleman was a newspaper writer, but both immediately recognized the need for a newspaper here. After searching for anyone who might begin the newspaper, Joe with a 5th grade education and Alonzo with an 8th grade education, each pitched in $40 and bought a printing press and all the supplies to start up the newspaper themselves. Alonzo later said the only real skill brought to the table was gall.
The printing press was set up and work began. Alonzo went to Chandler and sold 25 one-year subscriptions for $1 each while Joe went to Stroud and signed up 16 new customers along with some advertising. The businessmen of Bristow subscribed and advertised a great deal because the newspaper was the only real way to get their story to the people living along the creeks and in scattered settlements of the area. The newspaper was named “The Bristow Record.”
The oldest edition of the “Bristow Record” is dated June 3, 1904. It is marked “Volume 5, No. 27” and is stored at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Information for this series of articles is from a graduate paper by Leif Olsen in 1951. In our next article, we will discuss the news featured in that early “Bristow Record” and give you a little more history about our very own hometown newspaper.
We invite you to visit the Bristow Historical Museum at the depot and learn more about our history. Bristow has an amazing heritage and we are proud to share it!