The Hartwell Sun history

In May of 1879, Magill and E.B Benson, the owner of the newspaper, renamed it the Hartwell Sun.

On February 25, 1880, the paper released one of its most notable editorials, condemning the increase import duties imposed on printing paper.

At the end of the century in 1896, former editor John Magill and his cousin James Magill acquired ownership of the Hartwell Sun.

In preparation for his retirement and with the intent of keeping the paper in the family, John Magill, along with James Magill, sold the Hartwell Sun to their cousin Leon Morris in 1909.

In 1913 the new owners decided they wanted to phase out their use of handset type letter pressing.

Running the paper during the height of the Great Depression, Louie wanted the Hartwell Sun to "fill a long felt want in this community", as he declared in the 1925 National Publicity Edition.

On September 28, 1926, Leon Morris died at the age of 37, leaving Louie Morris as the sole owner of the paper.

Along with running the paper, Louie founded the WKLY Radio Station in 1947 with his son-in-law Max Pfaeder, who had married Louie's daughter Edna.

Louie Morris died on May 10, 1955 at the age of 62.

In August of 1962, Neil S. "Buddy" Hayden succeeded Pfaeder as editor.

In June of 1968, Bill Bridges became the editor of the paper.

On November 15th, 1979, Morris Communications Corp. purchased the Hartwell Sun from Bridges, along with two other Georgian newspapers, The Elberton Star and The Newsleader.

The ownership of the paper then transferred to Southern Publications of Jonesboro to Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. and finally, in 1999, the paper was bought by Community Newspaper Inc. who is the current owner.

In 2000, previous editor Wassie Vickery resigned after 6 years and was replaced by Scooter MacMillan, who severed in the position for a year.

In 2011, Salter was succeeded by Mark Hynds, who serves as the current editor of the Hartwell Sun.

In January 2019, Michael Hall became publisher of the paper.