Little River News

The Little River News began as a weekly newspaper in Richmond (Little River County) in 1888. It ceased publication in 2019.

Founded by W. F. Joyner, with support from the Democrats of the county, in 1888, the paper directly opposed another local paper, The Pilot, which was sympathetic to the Populist Party. Little River County historian Bill Beasley stated that the Little River News “played a great part in defeating the Populist Party in Little River County.” R. P. West purchased the paper and moved it from Richmond to Ashdown (Little River County) in 1892, where the name changed to the Ashdown Herald.

In 1897, brothers Othello Thomas (O.T.) Graves and Fred M. Graves purchased the Herald and changed the name back to the original Little River News. The brothers served as publishers for many years, and in 1908 the paper changed from a weekly to a semiweekly publication. Before moving to Ashdown and purchasing the paper with his brother, O. T. Graves was in partnership with J. L. Cannon and served alongside Cannon as editor and publisher of the De Queen Bee in Sevier County. After spending two years in Kansas City, O. T. Graves returned to Ashdown, and in partnership with L. E. Quinn, purchased the Little River News. In 1912, Quinn retired, selling his interest to Fred Graves who, once again, shared ownership of the press with his brother.

The newspaper continued to cover local news, now as a semi-weekly under the ownership of the Graves brothers until Fred Graves left the paper in 1930. O. T. Graves brought on his son, Guy, to replace Fred Graves. This partnership would not last long, however, as O.T. suddenly died of a ruptured appendix in 1931. His wife, Addie, took over the newspaper, with her son Don C. Graves serving as co-manager. In 1938, Addie Graves sold the paper to Ben R. Williams and Tom Biles. Biles and Williams had run the paper for only a year and a half when they sold it to J. Y. Wright in 1940. Wright ran the paper until 1955, when he sold it to W. B. Coley.

In 1976, Coley sold the paper to Gerald Strickland and Jim Williamson, who merged it with the Foreman Sun (which started in 1898). The paper ceased publication in November 2019.

Beginning in 2017, the Arkansas Digital Newspaper Project (ADNP) team at the Arkansas State Archives partnered with the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), to digitize historic Arkansas newspapers, including the Little River News.

For additional information:
Allsopp, Frederick W. History of the Arkansas Press for a Hundred Years and More. Little Rock: Parke-Harper Publishing Co., 1922.

Goodspeed Publishing Co. Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas. Chicago, St. Louis: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1890.

“Little River News.” Chronicling America, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90050316/ (accessed May 8, 2024).

“Little River News to Suspend Publication, Owner Seeks Buyer.” Southwest Times Record, November 23, 2019. https://www.swtimes.com/story/news/2019/11/23/little-river-news-to-suspend/2227650007/ (accessed May 8, 2024).

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

Staff of the Arkansas Digital Newspaper Project
Arkansas State Archives

A version of this entry was initially published on both the website of the Arkansas State Archives and the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America project and is used here with permission.