Campbellton - Editor's note: To mark National Newspaper Week, we present our readers with a history of English-language newspapers in our area.

According to Reid's History of Campbellton, the first newspaper in Campbellton was The Toothpick in 1886. This and a similar small newspaper in Dalhousie, known as The Icicle in winter and The Zephyr in summer, loved to take potshots at each other. These were more like gossip sheets, full of in-jokes, than true newspapers.

The first real newspaper to be published regularly in Campbellton, says Reid, was The Restigouche Pioneer, started in 1888 and owned and edited by C. Bruce McDougall. Reid recalls that that "its articles were always sensational and sometimes bordering on the libelous. There was one libel suit entered against the editor in the courts, but the article complained of was so cleverly written the libel could not be proven. The good people of that day did not like this method of conducting a newspaper and refused to buy ‘that sheet', so it was forced to cease publication in 1892."

The next newspaper, says Reid, was The Northern Enterprise in 1890. Thomas W. Brown was the editor and it was located in the Connacher Building at the northeast corner of Ritchie and Water Streets. It closed in 1898.

The Restigouche Telephone was started in 1896 by E. W. Chandler, but closed in 1900.

In 1899, says Reid, George M. L. Brown took over the closed business of his brother, The Northern Enterprise. He changed the name of the paper to Events. He carried on until 1902 when he sold out to L. B. Williams, who later sold out to the Anslow brothers.

The Tribune

The earliest era of The Tribune's existence is hard to describe, since so little is known to exist from that time. The earliest issue known to exist is a partial one dated Tuesday, Nov. 14th, 1905, Volume 1, Issue 11, owned by Wendy Cosper of Broadlands. Dating back from that, and assuming that no issues were missed or "extras" issued, the first issue should have come out on Sept. 5, 1905. However, on Aug. 23, 1939, The Tribune reported that it was then celebrating its 34th birthday. The Tribune started as a Tuesday newspaper, but by at least 1913 had switched to Wednesday.

Charles S.O. Crocket, the first owner and publisher, was a classic example of an old-time outspoken small town publisher. He was born in Chatham on April 16th, 1866 to William and Marion (Caldwell) Crocket. His father was a Scottish immigrant who for a time taught in Dalhousie, and later became the first Chief Superintendent of Education for New Brunswick.

Crocket, who worked in Vancouver, St. Stephen, and Saint John before coming to Campbellton, had learned his trade in Boston. His brother James Crocket later ran the Fredericton Daily Gleaner. A brother, A. Pierce Crocket, was a doctor and yet another brother, O. S. Crocket, was a lawyer who later became a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick has record of Charles S. O. Crocket operating a newspaper in St. Stephen called The Weekly Globe from 1897 to 1904. He came to Campbellton in 1905. His first press was a primitive affair that not only had to be typeset by hand, but also cranked by hand.

Reid was Campbellton's town clerk for many years, and knew Crocket well: "Mr. Crocket was a vigorous and outspoken writer," Reid recalls in his book, "and was never afraid to express his opinion, whether right or wrong, on any important matter. He always had the courage of his convictions and this sometimes brought him into conflict with his contemporary and others on many questions."

Crocket sues Campbellton

Crocket often fought with Campbellton town council. In 1907, council would not supply water to him in sufficient quantity to operate a "water motor", which he needed to run the press. (A "water motor" was just that: a motor that ran on water pressure.) Crocket's was not the only water motor to be cut off. Amongst the other businesses refused were Anslow Brothers, Crocket's archrivals who published The Graphic. Crocket was not cut off because of what he wrote in his newspaper, but because the city wanted to conserve water, since water motors used a lot of water. This was at a time when Campbellton was desperately trying to buy more access to the lakes in what is now Sugarloaf Park. The process took years before this was secured.

When council refused to grant him an exemption, even though it granted one to a William Story, Crocket retained his lawyer brother in Fredericton and sued the town. Crocket won at his first jury trial, but later lost on appeal.

Raymonds take over

Crocket died in April, 1939 at Soldier's Memorial Hospital, having been ill since December. He is buried in Campbellton Rural Cemetery, close to the grave of his rival, H. B. Anslow.

His son, Harold, managed The Tribune for a time before H.H.Hatfield, MP for Carleton, father of the late Premier Richard Hatfield, acquired it in 1943.

In 1946, R.M. "Rod" Raymond and L.G. Seely purchased it. Raymond had been a reporter with The Tribune. On Feb. 17, 1959, he established The Dalhousie Tribune. This paper was printed in Campbellton but headed in Dalhousie by the late Richard Taylor. The Dalhousie Tribune continued for the next seven years, when it ceased publication.

By the early 1970s, Rod. Raymond had assumed exclusive control of The Tribune. By the end of 1974 The Tribune was in the process of converting from the old hot-lead setup. The presses and machinery were scrapped and sold to a local junk dealer. In January 1975 the first off-set papers were produced, completely made up in Campbellton but printed in Newcastle on the web presses of Cadogan Publishing.

Following the death of his father in 1992, Terry Raymond took over the day-to-day operation of the business as proprietor and publisher.

Tribune moves over the years

The first Tribune building burned in the fire of 1910. This building, it seems, was somewhere on the north side of Water Street south of where the City Centre parking lot now is. Copies of The Tribune from 1913 indicate that by then it was printed on Gerrard Street, which was then the name for the western part of Roseberry, and not connected with the modern Gerrard Street. The Tribune was in The Crocket Building, which stood just west of where the driveway is from Roseberry St. into Sobey's. In 1953 it moved to 3 O'Leary Lane, in 1955 renamed St. Louis Lane.

In 2001, the present offices opened at 6 Shannon Street, adjoining the old building on St. Louis Lane. After a January, 2007 arson, The Tribune operated out of temporary locations, briefly on Roseberry St. in the Restigouche Centre, and then for months in the old Lounsbury Furniture Building.

On Aug. 16 repairs were finished and The Tribune moved back to 6 Shannon St. A new warehouse was built on the site of the old building on St. Louis Lane.

The Graphic

In November 1983, The Tribune took over the newspaper publishing operations of The Graphic.

The Anslow family, the owners of The Graphic, can be traced back to the 1850s when William Anslow came to Canada from the Midlands of England. A grandson, H. B. (Harry) Anslow, would be the founder of The Graphic.

H. B. Anslow first came to Campbellton from Newcastle in 1897 and worked for some months for T. M. Brown of The Northern Enterprise. He returned to Newcastle to resume work with The Union Advocate, a newspaper founded by his father William, and his uncle, James.

On Sept. 30, 1902, H. B. Anslow and Mary Corbett of Newcastle were married in Boston and about one and one-half years later, he entered into sale negotiations with L. B. Williams, owner of Events. As noted, that newspaper had arisen out of The Northern Enterprise. On May 1, Events was purchased and publication continued by the firm Anslow Bros., with his brother, Charles, serving as manager.

In November 1907, The Morning Graphic was launched, Campbellton's one and only daily newspaper. H. B. Anslow became manager and immediately moved to Campbellton with Charles becoming assistant manager in charge of advertising and printing plant. The venture was not a success and was abandoned after nearly two years. The Campbellton Graphic, then a semi-weekly, took its place.

The year 1910 brought a serious business reverse and tragedy to the Anslow family. The newspaper office and plant were lost in the Campbellton fire of 1910 and a week later Charles Anslow lost his life in a train/automobile accident.

H. B. Anslow purchased a commercial printing plant which he established at the site of the present Graphic building but the paper itself was printed at The Union Advocate in Newcastle. By March of 1912, a newspaper press had been installed on Ritchie Street and printing here was resumed.

H. B. Anslow stayed with the newspaper until his death in 1950. At that time, a son, A. C. (Al) Anslow, who had worked at the paper since 1936, became editor. Later, his son, John, joined the business.

H. B. Anslow also owned a newspaper in Ontario and his family members also owned newspapers. The Graphic was advanced for a small town weekly of its day, with elegant layout and comprehensive local coverage that would have put most dailies to shame. It was a very fine newspaper indeed. H.B. Anslow also served as the president of the national organization which represented community newspapers.

Al Anslow remained publisher until the sale of the newspaper in 1983. He died in 1984.

John,continues to operate the printing business, still located in the Graphic building.

A fuller history of The Graphic and the Anslows will run in a future newspaper.

Dalhousie News

The Dalhousie News was run for years by George Christie. Christie entered the newspaper business in June, 1920 at the age of 12 as an apprentice for The Commercial Press in Chatham. Not wanting to take up the trade of shoemaking of the uncle he lived with, the uncle arranged for him to become a "printer's devil".

In 1930, Christie got a job at The Campbellton Graphic. In 1931, Christie moved to Bathurst on what was supposed to be a three month loan of his services to The Bathurst Northern Light. It was extended to nine months, after which he moved back to Chatham to The Chatham Gazette.

While in Chatham, Christie thought it would be a good idea to operate a newspaper in Dalhousie. Anslow, ever the entrepreneur, was publishing The Dalhousie News to take advantage of the boom, printing it on The Graphic presses in Campbellton. The first issue was dated November 27, 1929. H. B. Anslow's son, Gordon, had come home from Hartland and was the editor and manager of the Dalhousie paper. Christie arrived in 1932 and started working on The Dalhousie News.

By 1935, Christie purchased the operation from the Anslows and was owner, manager, and editor although C. G. Anslow and J. L Fenderson were also on the directors of the company, The News Publishing Ltd., which operated the business. He bought some equipment of his own, and went into business running The Dalhousie News. Many in town will remember the old Dalhousie News office on William Street with its old press that printed the newspaper on flat sheets of paper cut by the mill specifically to accommodate it. Christie's Premier Press also printed "roll heads" for the NBIP, which were the round labels on the end of each paper roll . He also did commercial printing.

From the time he arrived in Dalhousie until his retirement on Dec. 31, 1973, Christie gathered the news, put the paper together, and worked on the presses. Christie sold The Dalhousie News in December 1973, to David Cadogan, then the owner and publisher of the Woodstock Bugle. On Thursday, March 7, 1974 the changeover in printing was made to Newcastle on web presses there owned by Cadogan.

Christie did not get to enjoy his retirement for very long. He died of a heart attack while shoveling snow from the first major snowstorm of the season outside of his Cameron Street home on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 1974.

In October 1994, The Dalhousie News was purchased by The Tribune and eventually closed, as there was not sufficient ad revenue to support it. Bill Clarke, who later became editor of The Tribune, ran The Tribune's Dalhousie bureau after the closure of The Dalhousie News, until that too was closed for financial reasons.

Purchases and launches

In 1987, The Tribune along with two other local papers, The Dalhousie News and L'Aviron, started a distribution company, Restigouche Distribution Ltd. In October 1992, The Tribune assumed full control of this company. Today flyers are distributed on a weekly basis to homes in Restigouche County and adjacent areas in Quebec. This part of the business is now owned and operated by NB Distributors, which distributes flyer bags in every part of the province.

La Voix du Restigouche

In June of 2000, The Tribune launched a sister Francophone publication, La Voix du Restigouche, as it felt there was a need for this product in the market. La Voix du Restigouche brings a new approach to this region and is well read by the Francophone population. Approximately 20,000 copies are now distributed in Restigouche county and parts of the Gaspe peninsula.

Brunswick News Inc.

On Sept. 1, 2005, The Tribune entered yet another stage in its history when it was purchased by Brunswick News Inc., a New Brunswick company. Brunswick News owns several other weeklies in the province, as well as The Telegraph-Journal, The Times-Transcript, and The Gleaner. This has allowed The Tribune access to new resources. The paper is put together digitally in Campbellton, and printed on the modern Brunswick News press in Moncton. This massive press has recently undergone a major upgrade. It is a long way from the hand-cranked press first used by Charles S. O. Crocket!

The Tribune has taken some big steps in recent years to update its image. Layout and design have vastly improved due to the adoption of digital technology. The newspaper went through a complete redesign last year, and changes occur constantly to keep things fresh.

The Tribune has received several awards over the years for local editorials, cartoons, in-house promotions, advertising content and design from the Atlantic Community Newspaper Association and the Canadian Community Newspaper Association. Awards have been received for sports coverage in the area. The Tribune has also been the recipient of the Crime Stoppers International Award for the best feature story, worldwide and has also received awards from the Canadian Legion, Hong Kong Veterans Association, and Relay for Life to name a few.

A survey conducted by COMBASE in 2001 showed that 75 per cent of the people in Restigouche County read The Tribune every week. This revealed an impressive level of market penetration into our communities. The Tribune now also posts stories and photographs on its website, at www.tribunenb.ca