© 2024 | Jefferson Public Radio
Southern Oregon University
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
541.552.6301 | 800.782.6191
a service of Southern Oregon University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

As It Was: Far South Coast Gets Its Own Local Newspaper

In 1893, John L. Childs installed improved printing equipment at the Crescent City News.  His previous press, a Ben Franklin model, was still serviceable, so he leased it to the Harbor (Ore.) Herald.

Two years later, Childs took back his press for reasons which remain unclear.  That ended the Herald and any local news coverage of the Brookings-Harbor area for 26 years until 1921 when the Gold Beach Reporter began printing a special section on its last two pages, headlined as “The Brookings Booster.”

The Brookings coverage vanished from the Reporter after Jan. 13, 1927.  For another 19 years, the Far South Coast had little documentation, other than social events.

A change came on March 1, 1946, when Dewey Akers and Dave Holman joined together to publish an  eight-page, tabloid-sized newspaper, the Brookings-Harbor Pilot, which gave the two communities their own voice.

The first editorial stated, “[we] will no longer be the little village in the lower end of the county that doesn’t seem to amount to much.”

The present-day newspaper, renamed the Curry Coastal Pilot, is a multiple award-winning publication with twice weekly editions.
 

Source: Olsen, Edward G. Then Till Now In Brookings-Harbor. Rotary Club of Brookings, 1979, pp. 152-54.

Laurel earned a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from Humboldt State. Her research efforts as a volunteer for the Curry Historical Society produced numerous newsletter articles and exhibits and earned her a reputation as a seasoned local history buff. Laurel is the author of "Renderings from the Gold Beach Pioneer Cemetery", a 50-page booklet containing a walking tour and snippets about the lives and times of folks buried there. She is also a contributing writer to Oregon Coast Magazine.