The Daily Times history

The Dodge County Independent News dates back to 1893 when it was formed by brothers John and Michael W. Clifford.

720-722, as well as the 1894 “Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties, Illinois,” 1894, p.254.

In the early years, dating back to the first edition in November of 1895, the paper was published on a flatbed, sheet-fed press.

13, 1896 Pekin Daily Evening Post William Schaumleffle of Pekin, died Feb.

1899 Pekin Street Fair brochure, and a Smith Wagon Co. catalog.

18, 1902 Pekin Daily Post-Tribune George J. Breaden, died Aug.

10, 1903, with a formal dedication ceremony on Dec.

Additional details are found in Ben C. Allensworth’s 1905 “History of Tazewell County.”

John Clifford left ownership of the paper in 1906 when he was elected Dodge County clerk of courts.

The organizers of Pekin’s celebration evidently sought to make the event bipartisan – Deneen, who is best known for putting down the infamous Springfield race riot of 1908, was a Republican, while Gillespie was a Democrat and later became a United States Congressman.

3, 1914 to the present year – but also includes a handful of obituaries from the Daily Times and other Tazewell County newspapers from prior to 1914.

1916: 115 PURCHASED BY WDTIMES: The Times Publishing Co. purchased the real estate at 115 W. Main Street from Otto J. Hartwig of Chicago and are breaking ground for a new printing plant.

In 1917 he bought an interest in the paper and became editor.

In December of 1918, Europe and the United States were holding Armistice talks in the aftermath of the end of World War I, and the Spanish Flu Pandemic was raging around the world and claiming the lives of anywhere from 20 million to 50 million people worldwide, including about 675,000 Americans.

1, 1919, he purchased an interest in the Watertown Daily Times.

By 1921 a Goss Duplex press was purchased, dramatically expanding capacity.

Purchased controlling interest in the paper and continued in that position until Christmas Day in 1922 when he was killed in a car-train accident in the city.

He graduated from Watertown High School in 1927 and four years later received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Marquette University.

He became editor and publisher of the Watertown Daily Times in May of 1932, following the death of J.P. (Bob) Holland, and continued in that capacity until his death.

1950 — Building at 113 W. Main St is purchased and razed.

10, 1952, at the bottom of the rightmost column on the front page, the Pekin Daily Times published the following birth announcement, giving it the unusual and humorous headline, “Another Dey Today” —

That workhorse press continued to grind out the Daily Times until 1964 when a major expansion of the company’s physical facilities was undertaken.

1966 — Tom Schultz begins newspaper career that now spans six decades.

When Thomson bought The Times in 1967, Hamilton became editor in chief of both newspapers and chief executive of Times Newspapers Ltd.

Susan Dey did not work as a model very long, for in 1970, at the age of 17, she was hired to play the role of Laurie Partridge in the television series The Partridge Family – one of her best-remembered roles, even 46 years after the show was cancelled at the end of its fourth season.

When the old library was replaced with a new, expanded facility in 1972, the cornerstone was opened and the contents of the time capsule were found to be in a very good state of preservation.

“Both Robert Hill and Albert Zerwekh were popular caterers,” says the 1974 Pekin Sesquicentennial. “Zerwekh’s three-story pressed-brick building housed a bakery and confectionary on the ground floor and basement, and the Masonic Hall occupied the second and third floors.

Kuehl succeeds George Kuckkan who has been circulation manager since 1975.

Seven years later, in 1978, the Daily Times purchased its first computer.

1979 — Times joins Associated Press Laserphoto network.

Supporting WNA goals is the WNA Foundation, a not-for-profit organization created in 1980.

In 1981 Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation acquired the paper through its purchase of Times Newspapers.

Christian was first elected to the board of directors in 1986.

"Clifford worked as editor and publisher of the Times until his death in 1987.

1988 JOHN D. CLIFFORD Memorial Award

He also worked for two years, through May 1989, at the Watertown Daily Times as a general assignment and Jefferson County reporter.

Since 1990 the Daily Times has placed digital copies of all editions in a “digital and searchable” format in the form of disks that can be read on computers.

Jim Clifford’s son, Kevin, joined the paper in 1992.

1994 — Herro building at 121 W. Main St, formerly the Feed Bag Restaurant, is purchased and remodeled for inserting and distribution operations.

1995 — Building redecorating, open houses, special sections mark 100th anniversary of Times.

In February of 2000, Kevin Clifford was named general manager of the Daily Times.

03 29 The Watertown Daily Times has received a Vendor Excellence award from Kohl’s department stores for 100 percent accuracy in preprint distribution in 2001.

2002 — Daily Times begins publishing electronic edition at www.wdtimes.com.

In 2003 the company expanded its press capacity by purchasing a four-color unit which allows full color reproduction on four pages, in addition to the two which were available before the acquisition.

Susan Dey has been retired from acting since 2004.

2008 — Entire print edition of Watertown Daily Times is made available online on a subscription basis.

2009 — Wepco Printing gets a new home when the business moves to the newly acquired property at 108 S. Sixth St

His term of office will be through the annual convention in January of 2010.

“GateHouse Media Inc., which owns the Daily Times, sold the current Daily Times building to Tazewell County for $255,000 in September 2011, after the paper had been trying for years to unload the historic yet deteriorating and drafty old building.

Here’s a chance to read one of our old Local History Room columns, first published in April 2012 before the launch of this blog . . .

2014 — Closed the Dodge County Independent News office in Juneau.

The index, however, is even more current, as the library updates it almost daily, whereas the microfilms are current up to the end of 2018 (when all microfilming ceased worldwide). Print editions of the Pekin Daily Times may be consulted for obituaries published since the end of February.

In spring of 2019, Tom Schultz, who was 45 years managing editor and worked at the paper for 53 years, announced his retirement.

2020 — The Dodge County Independent News published its last edition as a weekly newspaper on Feb.