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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, January 21, 2024, pg. 3 In the 1860s, political alliances were strong and newspapers were major avenues of espousing the political views of the Democrat or Republican parties. Here in Albion, the Albion Mirror newspaper, founded in 1855, espoused the views of the Democratic Party. To counter that, the Albion Union-Herald was founded in 1861 to reflect the views of the Union and the Republican Party. Unfortunately, the Union-Herald building, located in the Hannahs' Block (present site of today's Mariott Hotel), was destroyed by a disastrous fire in 1867 and the paper was discontinued. Shortly thereafter, the Albion Recorder began publishing on the third floor of Brockway's Block on May 28, 1868, replacing the Union-Herald. The Recorder was begun by William C. Harrison. Its motto was "A Government Established in the Hearts of the People; Founded Upon the Rights of All Men of Whatever Condition or Maturity." The Recorder was originally a four-page weekly publication, published on Fridays. The Recorder also did job printing as part of its business plan throughout its history. The Recorder went through several ownerships in its early years, which included: William C. Harrison (1868), William G. Reed and Benjamin Baxter Bissell (1869, published on Saturdays), Reed and Sargent (1872, published on Fridays again), H. E. Benjamin (1879), R.L. Warren (1880s), Verner J. Tefft (1890) and others. The Recorder became a daily publication on January 15, 1904 and several years later the name was changed to the Albion Evening Recorder. The weekly version was continued however, and consisted of a compilation of weekly local news from previous daily news. This was discontinued on November 16, 1916. Brothers Walter S. and Rex B. Kennedy (Rex is the father of the famous food writer M.F.K Fisher who was born here) purchased the Recorder on July 30, 1904. At the time the paper was located at 107 W. Porter St. The Kennedy's moved the headquarters to 106-108 W. Erie St. in the Murdock Block in 1908. Rex left a few years later for California. The Recorder's headquarters at 111 W. Center St. was constructed in 1924-25 and opened on Saturday, February 18, 1925 with a big gala open-house event. It was in use through April 18, 2003. Walter stayed on and published the Recorder until 1939 when he sold it to Jack Bedient. Jack's son Blair Bedient joined the team in 1950, and the Bedients owned and operated the Recorder for many years in the late 20th century. The Recorder switched from an evening, to a morning paper on February 21, 1985, and the word Evening was dropped from its name. Concurrently, the paper discontinued its individual carrier routes and turned to the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the daily paper. Dirk Milliman/Calhoun Communications purchased the Recorder from Blair Bedient in 1989. On Thursday, October 4, 2001, the Recorder reverted to a weekly publication due to a lack of advertising. With that, the word "Albion" was dropped from the title and the masthead then declared itself "The Recorder." Bettie Watson purchased the Recorder in 2003 from the Milliman family and published it for twenty years. The Recorder moved to its final Albion location at 125 E. Cass St. on April 21, 2003. This site was already housing the Morning Star shopper which had been purchased by Bettie a decade earlier. This office remained open to service local advertisers and customers. Much of the production work however was eventually transferred to the Salesman shopper (also owned by Bettie) office at 102 N. Main St. in Concord as a cost saving move, where all three publications could be prepared and coordinated. The Recorder and Morning Star were sold on December 31, 2023 to Wilcox Newspapers, with owner Mike Wilcox becoming the new Recorder editor and publisher. The Salesman publication was discontinued, and the Recorder's Albion office was closed on Friday, January 5, 2024. Both the Recorder and the Morning Star now operate fully in the former Salesman office in Concord. With the sale, the Recorder is now published on Fridays again, the same day of the week as when it began 155 years ago in 1868! From our Historical Notebook this week we present the Albion Evening Recorder building (1925-2003) on W. Center St. That structure was demolished January 21-26, 2011, and is presently the site of the parking lot of the Mariott Hotel. Next is the final location of the Recorder in Albion (2003-2024) in the old Albion Lumber Company complex. Finally, we present an 1869 advertisement of the original Albion Recorder newspaper. How many of our readers are now subscribing to the Recorder by mail? Check elsewhere in this publication for the latest rates and subscription options, including by internet.  Albion Evening Recorder building (1925-2003) on W. Center St.  The Recorder in Albion (2003-2024). All text copyright, 2024 © all rights reserved Frank Passic
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