Tolono newspapers

TOLONO – Tolono residents have had a local newspaper for almost as long as the town has existed. In the last 137 years there have been six different names and various owners, publishers and editors.

Here are some highlights of that history, according to the late historian Marion Moore

– The first Tolono newspaper was the Tolono Citizen, which John S. Harper published in 1869 and 1870.

– In 1874, The Tolono Journal was started.

–In 1875 The Tolono Herald was established. It's nor clear whether the Journal went out of business, sold to the Herald or if the two papers competed. The Herald was run by the father-son team of E.J. and E.B. Chapin.

Billed as "a progressive Republican newspaper," the Chapins published the Herald for 77 years.

–Another newspaper existed in Tolono in the 1880s, called the Tolono Times. When it was founded is unknown but a Champaign newspaper declared the Tolono Times had gone out of business in 1883.

–In 1891, the younger Chapin sold the Herald and moved to Champaign to start the Champaign News, the newspaper that consolidated with the Champaign Gazette in 1919.

–In 1952, The Herald closed and the town went without a newspaper until 1957 when R.J. Kemper established the South Side Journal.

–The South Side Journal evolved into the County Star, which published its first issue on Nov. 8, 1979. Tolono native Donald Heimburger was the publisher and former Tuscola Journal news and advertising manager Roger W. Bonham was the managing editor.

–Professional Impressions Media Group, (The News-Gazette) purchased The County Star on Aug. 1, 1986.