THE TITUS COUNTY TRIBUNE AND MT. PLEASANT DAILY TRIBUNE
In 1939, C. E. Palmer and his associates with The Texarkana Gazette started a daily publication in Mount Pleasant known as the Mount Pleasant Daily News. After a year and a half, the name was changed to the Titus County Tribune, which became a weekly publication.
After three decades in the newspaper circulation business across the Midwest, Joseph Frank Palmer, his wife Hazel, and sons Lloyd and Robert, moved to Mt. Pleasant on January 13, 1941. The city and the prospect of publishing a newspaper held a special fascination for them. "We could see the potential of Mount Pleasant," said R. B. Palmer, late Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune publisher emeritus. "That's one of the reasons we've been so stubborn about staying here. Besides, we like it here...always have."
Shortly thereafter, J. Frank Palmer and his sons purchased the Tribune. The Tribune, a weekly in those days, was in competition with the Mount Pleasant Daily Times and weekly Times Review.
In the early days, the Tribune was truly a family business operated by J. Frank Palmer, his wife Hazel, and their two sons, assisted by three employees. In their office on the south side of the square, a linotype operator set the type, J. Frank and another employee ran the press, R.B. and an employee ran the folding machine, and Hazel ran the addressing machine.
Both sons worked with their parents in the newspaper until the outbreak of World War II. Lloyd volunteered for military service after Pearl Harbor and was injured in a training accident at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Robert also volunteered for service in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army in World War II. Following military service, he married Mary Edith Bellatti, the daughter of Stillwater, Oklahoma, News-Press Publisher C.R. and Edith Bellatti in 1946. R. B. and Mary returned to Mt. Pleasant to continue helping his parents operate the Tribune.
The ever-growing Tribune moved a number of times from its beginning. They first moved into larger offices in the 300 block of West Second Street from their original location on the south side of the square. Later, they relocated to offices near the intersection of North Jefferson and West 16th Street (U.S. Highway 67), then to a location on South Van Buren where the Titus County Jail is now located.
In 1957, R. B. and Mary purchased the Pleasant Drive-In Theatre from Kenneth Sleigh. The Palmers operated the Pleasant Drive-In from 1957 to 1964, when they sold it to Raleigh Theatres, Inc.
The Tribune continued weekly publication until the fall of 1964, when it began publishing twice each week. Always embracing current technology to better their newspaper, the Tribune was the first Mt. Pleasant newspaper to begin publishing with offset presses. Use of an offset press allowed reproduction of much crisper type and much clearer photos than the lead linotype used to print newspapers for many years. Due to the enormous cost of offset web presses and other things necessary to establish an in-house printing plant, the Tribune was printed in various contract printing plants in Garland, McKinney, and Gladewater.
J. Frank Palmer remained the Tribune's publisher from 1941 until his death on June 23, 1967, assisted by his wife Hazel with son R. B. Palmer as editor. As J. Frank and Hazel Palmer aged, R. B. and Mary Palmer's responsibilities with the newspaper increased.
R. B. invested the proceeds from the sale of the Pleasant Drive-In into new offset technology to improve the quality of the Tribune's photos and type. In 1967 he moved the Tribune into even larger offices in a two story building formerly occupied by the Dr. Pepper Bottling Company located at 111-113 East Second Street between the court house square and the railroad. About the same time, R. B. Palmer, in association with Chili Cochran, Fred Knapp, Lee Narramore and Harold Pope formed Publisher's Press, Inc. and established an offset printing plant in Naples, Texas to print newspapers.
When R. B. became the Tribune's publisher in 1967, he continued the paper's high editorial values. He would not permit horoscopes, advertising from fortune tellers or unsigned editorials in his newspapers. He said people should turn to God for guidance and not the stars or palm readers. He also wanted his subscribers to know who wrote the opinion pieces they read.
The Tribune began daily publication in November, 1968. Robert L. "Bobby" Palmer, R. B. Palmer's son, returned from military service in 1972 to join his father as the Tribune's managing editor. The Mt. Pleasant Daily Tribune purchased its competitors, The Mt. Pleasant Daily Times and Times Review on July 31, 1972, and consolidated them under the Tribune banner. Chili Cochran and Lee Narramore bought out their other partners and dissolved Publisher's Press.
Driving back and forth to Naples to have their newspaper printed was inconvenient, so in 1974 R. B. Palmer and R. L. Palmer with Fred Knapp and Harold Pope formed Nortex Press, Inc. Nortex Press acquired ownership of two weekly newspapers, the Clarksville Times and the Little River News (an Arkansas newspaper). Red River Media was set up to operate the two weekly papers. The new printing plant was established at 1705 Industrial Road in Mt. Pleasant. Nortex Press, Inc. currently has six employees and prints The Mt. Pleasant Daily Tribune, Clarksville Times, Little River News, Naples Monitor, Gilmer Mirror, Northeast Texas Community College Eagle, Mt. Pleasant High School newspaper, Red River Army Depot employee magazine, Texas Rural Mail Carriers' magazine, and Millenium Shopper of Greenville.
Hazel Palmer continued contributing to the Tribune as the paper's Women's Editor. Her column Buzzin' Around described various things that she found interesting or attractive around Mt. Pleasant, and was a regular Tribune feature until shortly before she passed away on October 23, 1978.
On January 13, 1985, the Palmers began construction on the present newspaper office building at 1705 Industrial Road, and remodeling the existing Nortex Press facility. The new building provided much more room for the editorial staff and the equipment they require to produce the paper, and also provided room for the Nortex Press printing presses.
Robert L. Palmer picked up the family torch by becoming the Tribune's publisher in 1989, assisted by his wife Sharon. R.B. Palmer became Publisher Emeritus and continued to take an active roll in the newspaper. R.B. Palmer and the Tribune family lost Mary Palmer on March 6, 1994. R. B.'s column Anything Goes continued to be a staple of the paper until 2003, when he was forced to suspend his column after suffering a stroke on June 6, 2003 that left his right side partially paralyzed. R. B. Palmer died January 14, 2006 at age 88. He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Mt. Pleasant.
In keeping with current technology, the Tribune embraced emerging computer technology to improve the "behind the scenes" publishing chores and make the paper's operation more efficient. They began publishing an internet edition in approximately 1995 early in the internet's development. The Palmers added full color photos to enhance the newspaper's appearance. The original staff of 2-3 employees has now expanded to 32, supplemented by Nortex Press' six employees.
The Mt. Pleasant Daily Tribune remains one of only about a dozen family-owned and operated newspapers in Texas. When asked about the role each of their wives played in the newspaper, Bobby repeated and fully agreed with a statement made several years ago by the late R. B. Palmer that "The dominant people at the start, of course, were my father and mother, then gradually, more and more Mary and I took over responsibility," R.B. said. "Looking back now after more than 50 years of working with the Tribune, I'd have to say a major portion of the success is due to two women-my mother, Hazel Palmer, and my wife, Mary Palmer, who came here after we were married in February of 1946." Mr. Palmer continued, "For some time now, he [Bobby] has had main responsibility for seeing to the operation of the Tribune," he noted, "but the girls, Frances and Barbara, have put in their time, too."
Bobby added that owning a family business isn't always easy when you work day in and day out side by side with your spouse and family members, and understandably everyone doesn't always agree, but the Tribune owes much of its success to the contributions of the wives of each generation.
The fourth generation of the Palmer family joined the Tribune in 2003, when Blake Palmer began working in the newspaper with his parents. He was called back to active military service in Afghanistan, but returned to the Tribune in May, 2006.
