| Summary |
The history of the Kinston Daily Free Press began in a smaII way in 1882 when the brothers, Josephus and Charles Daniels with a capital of $10, founded the newspaper. After three years, during which time Charles served as the newspaper's editor, they sold one-half interest in the enterprise to Walter S. Herbert. Herbert was economically oriented and sought to increase the area's job potential through encouraging the development of industry. While he was editor. Kinston witnessed a period of rapid growth which saw the establishment of a number of basic industries. It was also during his editorship that the Free Press became first a semiweekly and a short time thereafter a daily. He had ambitious plans for expanding the newspaper, but died in 1902 before the plans could be put into effect. Upon Herbert's death, the newspaper became the property of Jesse W. Grainger, who had extensive holdings in Lenoir County. He asked his son-in-law. Dr. Daniel T. Edwards, to become editor of the newspaper. Edwards fought for many things, but his outstanding contribution was in the area of education. The records are not clear after 1906, but it appears that the newspaper went into a period of decline. A factor in its decline could well have been Edward's failing health. Whatever the case, the publishing company was reorganized in 1914, and H. Galt Braxton was employed as the fourth editor of the Free Press. Braxton did a thorough job of rebuilding the Free Press. He purchased new equipment, expanded the newspaper's area of influence, and greatly increased its circulation. In 1924, he acquired controlling interest in the Free Press Company. He gradual I y bought up the remaining stock so that today the company is virtually a closed family corporation. Braxton strongly believed that a newspaper should represent the interests of the people and strove to use the Free Press in a manner that would lead to the growth and development of the community. In the area of education, he strove to decrease adult iIIiteracy, sought tax increases and bond issues to expand the community's educational base, fought for teacher pay increases, resisted the efforts of some to curtaiI education, and supported state-wide-measures that would assure more effective use of the educational doIlar. He was also a proponent and an avid worker toward the improvement of rural education. Although he personally favored a county-wide system of control for the schools of Lenoir County, he did not let this fact deter him from fighting for a system of consolidated schools on a smaller scale. Economically, Braxton sought those things that would give the community a broader foundation for development-- better roads and other means of transportation, diversification of agriculture, larger and better markets, and the general development of Kinston. In helping to bring these things about, Braxton worked closely with civic groups and others interested in community development. Over the years the Free Press became a community institution, through its support of measures and advocacy of programs that greatly aided the townspeople. It sought improvements in sanitation and public health, aided in the vice cleanup of Kinston, fought against political apathy and entrenchment, boosted entertainment, fought for public recreation, and aided other institutions toward making the community a better place in which to live. This historical treatment of the Free Press, generally, concludes in 1939; however, the newspaper has continued to play a dominant role in its community down to the present day. |
