History of the Stamford American

Since the early days of development, Stamford has had a long and complicated history. The history of its newspaper is no exception.

Only a few months after the first lots were sold in Stamford, Mr. Rhea and Mr. Lacy started Stamford's first newspaper, the Stamford News. The first issue was published on approximately March 2, 1900. Stories go that Rhea and Lacy were in such a rush to start the paper that the first issue was printed in a building that under construction. Assisting the set up of the paper was Mr. McKie Myers, a printer from the Anson Western Enterprise. The News was then sold to Reverend Sam Gay, a Methodist minister. In the week of May 10, 1907, the News was again sold this time to A. N. Evans. Evans was the owner of the paper for almost a year. For a few months of this time, he partnered with J. M. Webb, who was the publisher. Evans then created the Stamford Publishing Company, of which he was the sole owner.

In the first few months of 1908, Evans sold the paper to J. S. Daley, who in turn rented it to C. E. Gilbert and later Jim Fore.

During this time, the first major competition to the News had sprouted up. In October of 1905, Mr. Sayles started the Stamford Tribune. In 1906, just shortly after he had started the paper, he sold to J. A. Greer, who sold it to Judge Greenwood in 1910. That same year, Greenwood and Daley of the Stamford News chose to consolidate the two competitors, creating the Stamford News-Tribune. In 1913, Greenwood sold his interest in the paper to G. L. Inglish, who changed the name of the paper to the Stamford Leader.

Much as the Tribune had done, other competitors started their own newspapers. On April 25, 1924, the Stamford American was opened by R. C. Thomas. Thomas was the publisher of the American until September of 1925, when he sold it to Cleburne Huston. Huston, a praised journalist with a degree from the University of Texas, published the Stamford American for twenty years, helping it become the dominant paper in Stamford. However, he was not a printer, and he ran short of help when World War II made printers scarce. He decided to sell in 1945, to a partnership of W. S. Foster, Fred Shaver, and Roy M. Craig. Shaver remained a partner for only a month.

Eventually, Foster and Craig bought out the Stamford Leader. For a time they printed both, with the Leader being printed at the first of the week, and the American at the end of the week. This however was not economical and finally they consolidated under the name Stamford American, printed for the first time together on December 26, 1950. Craig bought out Foster in October of 1950, and became the sole owner of the Stamford American.

The Stamford American under Roy and Dorothy Craig was printed on the south side of the square. According to an article in the November 13, 1975 issue of the American, it was "one of the most modern weekly newspaper plants in the country." Their newspaper plant, in addition to printing the American, printed the papers for Anson, Clyde, Baird, Haskell, Rochester, Albany, Hamlin, Aspermont, Knox City, Throckmorton, and Abilene Christian College, as well as the programs for the Texas Cowboy Reunion from 1949 to 1985. While the Craigs owned the Stamford American, the paper had a circulation of about 2700. In the forty years they owned it, they never missed an issue.

When Roy Craig passed away in February 1979, his wife Dorothy took over publishing the paper until she sold it in 1985 to John Mooney.

John Mooney and his wife Rita were the first to bring computers into the process of printing the Stamford American about 3 years after they bought the paper. They sold the American to Lewis and Becky Alambar in May 1993, who owned the American until selling it to Callie Metler in May 2009.

The New Stamford American is now run by Callie Metler. She is a hometown girl, having attended Stamford schools from K-12, graduating in 1999. She earned a degree in Communications from Angelo State University in 2002. She has 2 sons, ages 18 and 16.

The New Stamford American is now published completely with computers. Adobe In-Design is used to created the pages of the paper, and they are electronically submitted to the Wichita Times-Record News for printing. What an evolution from Stamford's