April 8, 1874

Conway County’s Petit Jean Country Headlight was founded by the Reverend W. C. Stout, an Episcopalian minister, as the Weekly State. The earliest newspaper to be published in Conway County was the Wide Awake, established in Lewisburg in January 1872. In May of that year, the Western Empire also began publication in Lewisburg. Neither paper lasted more than a few years. A number of papers have been based in Conway County since that time, but the only one still surviving is the Petit Jean Country Headlight.