Newspaper Exhibit

The Edmond SUN has the distinction of being the oldest newspaper in Oklahoma. Established by Milton "Kicking Bird" Reynolds, the first issue appeared July 18, 1889. Still in circulation, the newspaper was known as The Edmond Evening SUN for many years. In 1999, the paper reverted back to its original name the Edmond SUN and maintains a readership of 11,000. This is quite a legacy for Milton "Kicking Bird" Reynolds who died in 1890 just a year after initially publishing his paper. The original office for the Edmond SUN was located near the intersection of Broadway and Second. This location continues to serve as the home base for the paper. Other newspapers serving Edmond through the years have included the Edmond DEMOCRAT, Edmond Enterprise and Edmond Booster.

Producing a newspaper in the early days of Oklahoma required a great deal of time and patience. An early printer efficiently produced a paper by first typesetting and then using a press. Typesetting a newspaper involved placing each individual letter called "type" in the correct place to create sentences and headlines. Then once the paper was printed using the press, it had to be laid aside for the ink to dry. Because of the labor involved, many early newspapers were weeklies rather than dailies. Due to the time it took to print and distribute a newspaper, the news might be several days to weeks old when the customer received his paper. Compare the old way of printing to today’s. We can learn of news within seconds due to the use of computers, cell phones and radar equipment. Written communication has greatly improved since the days of the pioneers.