Mena Star

Various iterations of the Mena Star newspaper were published from 1896 to 1977. The town of Mena (Polk County) itself was also founded in 1896 as a stop along the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf Railroad (later the Kansas City Southern Railway). Two years later, the Polk County seat was moved from Dallas to Mena. Mena was advertised as a health spa city, though the main industries were timber, agriculture, and mineral extraction. The Star was an independent paper that tended toward a Democratic stance in its reporting.

In 1896, Andrew Warner St. John established the Mena Weekly Star as one of the first newspapers in Mena. The paper’s first publishing office was a small 16 x 24-foot building, as the city was newly established and many people were still living in tents. The office had a Fairhaven press and a good supply of type. The Star was published every Wednesday by A. W. St. John & Sons. Before moving to Mena, Andrew St. John worked at the Carthage Evening Press (1891–1966) in Missouri for about sixteen years. At the Star, Andrew St. John worked with his younger son Roy Robert St. John. The Mena Weekly Star continued under that name until 1898, at which time it changed to the Mena Star. The Mena Star was published every Wednesday, then in 1899 it changed to Thursday publication. In 1904, the paper returned to its original name, the Mena Weekly Star, and continued to be published every Thursday.

In 1907, Andrew St. John died, and his older son, Virgil W. St. John, joined his brother Roy St. John at the Mena Weekly Star. Virgil St. John moved to Mena from Kansas City, Missouri, where he had worked at the Kansas City Journal. The Star was then published by A. W. St. John’s Sons. In 1911, the St. John family created the Star Publishing Company by including Virgil St. John’s son, Ernest Warner St. John. The next year, Virgil St. John bought out his brother, and in 1920, he became the sole owner and editor. Ernest St. John took over following Virgil’s death in 1934. When Ernest died in 1957, Ernest’s son Richard W. St. John became the third generation of St. Johns to run the paper. Richard St. John retired in 1972, selling the paper to Thomas A. Freeman, who ran the paper until 1977 when it closed.

The Star was an independent newspaper, though it leaned toward a Democratic position in reporting local and international news. In 1914, the Department of Journalism at the University of Oregon listed the Star as one of the best weeklies in the United States. In 1921, the paper was honored again, this time by the Arkansas Press Association, as one of the top weeklies of Arkansas based on news and editorial content. The University of Arkansas Department of Journalism followed with the same accolade in 1922.

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 Mena Star.

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

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

“Mena Star.” Chronicling America, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89051214/ (accessed June 25, 2024).

“Mena Weekly Star.” Chronicling America, Library of Congress. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89051213/ (accessed June 25, 2024).

Meriweather, Robert W. A Chronicle of Arkansas Newspapers Published since 1922 and of the Arkansas Press Association. 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.