Independent celebrates 200th Anniversary with commemorative edition

BY STACI WILSON
Editor

The first newspaper in Susquehanna County appeared February 20, 1816 – just six years after the county was formed.

The Susquehanna County Centinel was a four-column folio, 18 x 22 inches, and was the direct ancestor of the Susquehanna County Independent.

The first editions of the Centinel – published by Justin Clark – carried the proclamation: “Here shall the press the people’s rights maintain; Unawed by influence, and unbribed by gain.”

That proclamation stood the test of time, appearing on the newspaper mast well into the 20th century. Over time and design revisions, the quote had been dropped but its meaning carries forth to this day.

The successor to the Centinel was the Montrose Gazette.

After the Susquehanna County Republican merged with the Montrose Gazette in 1825, the combined paper was renamed as The Susquehanna Register.

Homer Frazier came to be editor of the paper and in 1855 the name was changed to “The Independent Republican.” The paper was published under the head: “Freedom and Right Against Slavery and Wrong.”

In a 1942 edition of the Montrose Independent, Alice Lott wrote: “Mr. Frazier edited the paper until his death 22 years later, May 22, 1876. Passing through troublous time, perhaps few political editors have been more candid and fair than Mr. Frazier.”

In 1926, The Montrose Democrat was purchased and merged with the Independent Republican, and the name was changed to The Montrose Independent.

The Independent purchased and merged with The New Milford Advertiser, The Great Bend Plaindealer, The Lackawanna Trail News, The Hallstead Herald and The County Herald.

The Democrat was revived around 1939, and several years later the name was changed to the Susquehanna County Press – both the Montrose Independent and the Susquehanna County Press were published by Earle E. Wootton.

In the late 1980s, the Montrose Independent and the Susquehanna County Press merged into one paper, reflected by the name change, which stands to this day: The Susquehanna County Independent.

In 1997, the Susquehanna County Independent was sold by the Montrose Publishing Company to Times-Shamrock Corporation.

Newspaper ownership changed again in October 2015, with Sample News Group purchasing the Independent, along with several other publications.

The Susquehanna County Independent continues to publish a weekly edition each Wednesday with a focus on news, sports and events around the county.