I spent a little time at the Harrison County Genealogy Society library last week and read some of the first issues of the “Ridgeway Blade”, the first newspaper printed in Ridgeway. It was established by editor A. S. Thorne in 1882 and operated for two years. You could get a paper for 5 cents or $1.50 for a year subscription. Each issue was about 4 to 6 pages and covered national, state, and local news. The local pages were part news, part editorial, and part gossip. Ridgeway was already a bustling little town even that early and there were plenty of advertisements.
In the May 10th edition, the “Ridgeway Blade” reported that the “Postoffice Department” granted Ridgeway’s application for a money-order office, effective July 1. The Ridgeway School Board of Directors met on May 3 and decided how long each of the directors would serve on the board, based on the number of votes they received. Mrs. S. Hunt invited the ladies of Ridgeway to inspect her new millinery goods and Geo. W. Brewer advertised a “full and complete stock of Drugs and Patent Medicines”. He was also a notary public. In the June 14 issue, the editor wanted to know why Ridgeway’s temperance society could not be as good as the one in Lorraine and that “it is a shame that our society is left to shiver in the cold of neglect.”
