7 days Archive

Special section • Star Century: 100 years of The Indianapolis Star

On Saturday, June 6, 1903, The Indianapolis Morning Star had 18 stories on the front page. Among them was one headlined, "President's Greeting to Morning Star."

Wow, what luck! On the evening before the first edition of the newspaper was to be published, President Theodore Roosevelt made an unexpected stop in Indianapolis on his way back to Washington, D.C. An engine on the train needed replacing.

The Star took full advantage of this big news event, providing a detailed report on Page One of that first edition 100 years ago.

U.S. Sen. Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, who represented Indiana in the Senate from 1899 to 1911, was traveling with Roosevelt. The senator told Star reporter Otto Carmichael: "He (Roosevelt) wishes The Star and all good newspapers of our city and state great and increasing success. The President is a believer in a free, unmuzzled press and considers the honest, unpurchaseable, fearless and impartial newspapers one of the chief elements of the strength and perpetuity of our free institutions."

So, Roosevelt's wish for The Star came true. The newspaper is still publishing every day 100 years later -- and it has enjoyed "great and increasing success" during those 10 decades.

The Star has published more than 36,525 editions -- one every day for 100 years. The 25 are the 25 leap days in the century. It's more than 36,525 because The Star published "Extra" editions for big news events. In the two years and 10 months I've been at The Star, we've had two Extras, one on the day after the 2000 presidential election when we still didn't know if it was President-elect Bush or President-elect Gore and one on Sept. 11, 2001, after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

The daily paper cost a penny 100 years ago. Now, it's 50 cents. (The price of a newspaper remains one of the best bargains around!)

OK, I admit I'm a bit biased after being in the business for almost 30 years. But I truly believe that newspapers are a special business. We have a sacred privilege provided in the Bill of Rights -- freedom of the press. That's what Roosevelt was referring to 100 years ago this week. We also have serious responsibilities to be fair and accurate. If we want to continue to be successful, the newspaper also must be interesting. It must be necessary and useful. And it must be profitable.

Today, The Star prints more than 100 million newspapers every year. During a week, two-thirds of all adults in Central Indiana read The Star. We have nearly 1,300 employees who produce your Star.

Records aren't available to compare current numbers with those of 1903, but it's safe to say that the figures today have lived up to Roosevelt's wish for increasing success.

The Star began publishing 50 years before I was born. I feel confident in proclaiming that it will be around 50 years after I'm gone -- and many more after that.

For 100 years, readers and advertisers have made The Star successful. That's good reason to celebrate this milestone birthday.

That calls for cake and ice cream. Join us today (June 6) from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in University Park, across the street from The Star at 307 N. Pennsylvania St.

It will be the end of one successful century of publishing and the start of a new one.