Courier-Index (Marianna)

The Courier-Index, a newspaper based in Marianna (Lee County), is the oldest continuous business operation in Lee County. The newspaper was the result of the consolidation of two other newspapers, the Marianna Index and the Lee County Courier.

Luther M. Benham published the first issue of the Marianna Index, the older of the two papers, in partnership with J. M. Thomas, who was the editor, although the exact date of the first publication is unclear. Volume numbers on the Courier-Index and an article in a book the city produced for its centennial in 1970 both indicate that the Index began publishing in 1873. However, an article in the April 17, 1841, edition of the Courier-Index states that the paper debuted on a Saturday in August 1874, using hand-set type and a hand-fed press. “We intend to have a paper that the people of our county will not be ashamed of, and that all, someday, may feel proud of it,” the Index promised. A fire in December 1874 destroyed the newspaper’s office, and there exist no known copies of editions from its early years.

The Marianna Index covered a wide range of topics in a seven-column layout that included poetry, editorials, and general essays, as well as national news. Subscriptions to the paper were advertised at $2.50/year, and the general mission of the paper was to “defend the truth, support what is right…oppose all cliques, clans or leagues, or anything else that tends to corrupt the ballot box.” The city of Marianna faced many trials during the time of the Index‘s print run, including intermittent outbreaks of yellow fever and smallpox, as well as fires that gutted the city.

After only a few months of publication, Benham sold the paper to Hutton, Anderson & Co., and H. N. Hutton became the publisher. It was sold several more times through the years, with early publishers including John Prewitt (1876–1883), H. N. Wood (1883–1884), and B. M. Harrington (1884–1888).

The Lee County Courier, founded in 1890 by Colonel James Wood, a farmer with an interest in politics, gave the area two newspapers for more than twenty-five years. Col. Wood and his nephew, T. E. Wood, edited the newspaper. Griffin Smith Sr. and Herbert M. Jackson purchased the Index and the Courier in 1917 and merged them into the Courier-Index two years later.

Smith had learned the newspaper business in Tennessee before moving in 1910 to Marianna, where he married Amelia Sheffield Daggett. He and Amelia soon left for other adventures, which included an ownership interest in the Paragould Daily Press and Paragould Soliphone, before he spent eighteen years as chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. Jackson, meanwhile, published the newspaper until his death in 1934, when his wife, Cordie Jackson, became publisher. She continued to publish the paper until 1937, when she sold it to John B. Howse. Approximately two years later, she resumed ownership of the paper.

In 1944, Roy H. Caldwell moved his family to Marianna from nearby Forrest City (St. Francis County), where he had been vice president of the Times Herald Publishing Company. He purchased a half interest in the Courier-Index from Cordia Jackson. In 1949, Caldwell’s son, Marvin B. Caldwell, purchased the remaining half.

Roy Caldwell died in 1957, at which time Marvin Caldwell became editor and publisher. Under his leadership, the Courier-Index brought the county its first computers and became one of the state’s first newspapers to convert to offset printing, in 1970. He also served as president of the Arkansas Press Association in 1975 and, along with Bill Woods of Hazen (Prairie County), owned and operated the Twin City Tribune in West Helena (Phillips County) from 1969 to 1980. When Marvin Caldwell died in 1983, his wife, Dorothy Caldwell, became the newspaper’s publisher.

In September 1985, the Caldwell family sold the newspaper and its office supply business to General Media, Inc., which at the time also owned the Jacksonville Daily News, the McCrory Leader, and the Augusta Advocate. F. D. “Doug” Oliver, executive vice president of General Media, was named publisher of the Courier-Index. Times-Herald Publishing in Forrest City (St. Francis County) purchased the Courier-Index in May 1986. In late 2016, Argent Arkansas News Media purchased the Times-Herald and the Courier-Index.

The Courier-Index is printed each Wednesday at the Times-Herald facility in Forrest City, with its business office at 31 S. Poplar Street in Marianna.

Notable writers who contributed to the Courier-Index include lawyer-turned-novelist Grif Stockley and former Arkansas Democrat managing editor Gene Herrington.

For additional information:
“About the Courier-Index (Marianna, Ark.) 1917–Current.” Chronicling America. Library of Congress. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89051338/ (accessed July 20, 2022).

“Argent Media Buys Two State Newspapers.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 2, 2016.

“Courier Index Editor, Marvin Caldwell Dies.” Courier-Index, March 24, 1983, p. 1

“General Media Purchases The Courier-Index.” Courier-Index, September 12, 1985, p. 1.

Marianna Centennial, 1870–1970. Marianna, AR: Crawford Printing Co., 1970.

Meriwether, Robert, W. A Chronicle of Arkansas Newspapers Published since 1922 and the Arkansas Press Association, 1930–1972. Little Rock: Arkansas Press Association, 1974.

“Times-Herald Purchases Courier-Index.” Courier-Index, May 1, 1986, p. 1.

Stephen Caldwell
WordBuilders, Inc.