October is National Newspaper Month. Such recognition implies a newspaper’s significance and purpose. Thomas Jefferson would not have felt that way about a particular paper in his lifetime.

“A man who reads nothing at all is better informed than one who reads the ________,” he groused.

Though The Alleghany News isn’t that old, it’s probably older than you think. How does 115 years old sound? It’s true. The paper you’re reading was first published on August 15, 1889, but it was called the Alleghany Star. Sparta resident “Dock” Carson was its owner, and remained so until 1915. He also held deeds on a sizeable portion of this county.

Strangely enough, the first edition carried no news beyond who got married and whose new baby girl was born on Christmas Day. There was also a clever poem called “The Trials of a Twin.” in which one brother laments the confusion between him and his brother. It poses the question, ”What would you do, if you were me, to prove that you were you?” and ends appropriately with, “And when I died the neighbors came, and buried brother John.”

Back then, a full year’s subscription cost just one dollar. A one-inch advertisement could run every week for a year for $7. Large ads were $9 a week, or $50 a year.

Three full front-page columns boast of Alleghany’s many physical advantages like farmland, churches and schools, citing the Sparta Institute as being “one of the best, if not the best…in the western part of the State.” Local happenings often updated the community with reports like, “Mrs. Alpha Williams, who has been ill for some time, is somewhat improved.”

Since 1940, Ashe County’s local paper, The Skyland Post, had been doing well enough for its owner, Mrs. Stella Anderson, but the Sparta paper caught her attention. She bought The Alleghany Star, and changed its name to The Alleghany News, establishing the paper’s office in “Farmer Bob” Doughton’s building on Main Street. Milly Richardson soon joined as a local reporter; however, if there wasn’t enough news from Alleghany, Mrs. Anderson included pieces about Ashe. As they gradually filled entire pages, Alleghany readership plummeted.

In 1986, Milly started her own newspaper, The Blue Ridge Sun, which became a local competitor for the News.

About that time, Gene Wilson bought the paper from Mrs. Anderson, envisioning it as a regional information source. From then on, our county’s four- to six-page newspaper brought national news to this community.

Sparta’s first serious fire destroyed many of the oldest newspapers; however, an archival project is under way, sorting what’s left by month and year from the early thirties up to last week’s edition. Reading of history as it happened brings strange feelings, especially of the Depression years.

On January 4, 1935, for example, notice was served that “new shoe stamps would be good until summer, and ‘airplane’ stamps #1, 2, and 3, could be used.”

And “a county-wide vote on whether or not an ABC store would be built in Sparta was expected to draw 3,000 of the county’s 4,500 registered voters.” The possibility of building a county hospital was also mentioned.

The early eighties brought more changes to The Alleghany News when Al and Patty Wheeler bought the paper and made Bob Bamberg its editor, silently testing his utilization of two degrees from the University of Florida, neither of which was in journalism. It worked well and he remained in that position for nine years. His biggest story came on the night Sparta burned.

Later, the Wheelers sold the paper to a group of local investors, including the editor. Bob took the Sparta dispatcher’s call from his in-laws’ home in Crumpler.

“It’ll take me an hour to get there,” Bob said. “Will it still be burning when I get there?”

“This fire’ll be burning ‘til morning!” came the terrible reply.

Bob scrambled back to town and quickly used up all the newspaper’s film and made notes on the blaze. Since the Blue Ridge Sun was already on the streets, he had an area exclusive. The newspaper’s printing run was increased to 2,000 copies, 800 more than usual. All but seven papers were sold. His story was even popular enough to be repeated on page three of the next edition.

The Alleghany News is also remarkable in that it was the first area newspaper to begin desktop publishing. But a minor glitch threatened to upset things. After running the paper’s weekly edition on Wednesday morning, the office closed down so the MacIntosh team could install the system and teach the staff how to use it. When folks were familiar with the programs, the Mac man turned off the computer and everyone went home. But the following morning it took several people to find the computer’s “on” switch.

Soon after, Ron Brown was hired as the newspaper’s business and advertising manager. Ron, now the general manager, is the newspaper’s longest-term employee, having been at the News since 1987.

The newspaper was sold to The Alleghany News Publishing Company Inc., owned by John W. and Julius C. Hubbard Jr. They also own the Wilkes Journal Patriot and Carter-Hubbard Publishing Company.

During the transition in late 1991, Bamberg was succeeded by Lynn Worth as editor. Worth instituted design changes and utilized her journalism education and experience to make the newspaper more news-focused, including covering more breaking news. As another notable change, the first full-color front page photos were first implemented in the mid 1990s. Worth stayed on as editor until December of 1997, when current editor Coby LaRue was promoted from his position as reporter (a post he had held since spring of ‘97).

Soon after, the newspaper started doing more computerized pagination, making many of its manually-pasted pages obsolete. Today, the newspaper has more color photos, often appear on inside pages as well as section fronts. A website was launched in 1999 at www.alleghanynews.com.

Since 1993, the newspaper has won more than 30 news and advertising awards from the North Carolina Press Association, including being named the third best newspaper of its size in the state in 2004. A total of 5,000 copies are printed weekly.

Not bad for a newspaper that’s first edition contained no news.