The Mount Vernon Democratic Banner is one of the two main newspapers documenting the events of Knox County throughout much of its history. Its counterpart, The Mount Vernon Republican, is also in the process of being digitized, and can be found here.
The Mount Vernon Democratic Banner was originally established in April 1838 by Chauncey Bassett and Joel Robb before switching ownership and editorship several times in quick succession. In December 1853 it was purchased by Ireland-born Lecky Harper. As a “Peace Democrat,” Harper’s editorials were often critical of many things, such as the Civil War, big government, and The Mount Vernon Republican. Harper stayed with the paper until his death in 1895, when it was inherited by his sons Frank and William. After a flourishing 64 year run under the Harpers, Frank leased the Banner to Stephen J. Dorgan in 1917, who sold it to the Republican News in 1935. This company later changed its name to the Mount Vernon News.
As its header describes it, The Mount Vernon Democratic Banner was “a family paper devoted to news, politics, agriculture, literature, the arts and sciences, education, and local affairs.” Today, it stands as a valuable record of the issues, perspectives, and lives of people living in Knox County over the course of many years.
The collection of hard copy editions of The Mount Vernon Democratic Banner is kept by the Mount Vernon Historical Society, https://www.knoxhistory.org.
***These newspapers have been made full-text searchable using OCR software. However, because of the age and fonts used in this publication, it should not be assumed that all content will appear in search results correctly.***
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