Scanned from microfilm.

Publication Dates

1920-1940

Frequency

Weekly

Description

The Walkerville News was a weekly newspaper founded by Charles Clark in 1920. It was published by the News Publishing Company (part of the Walkerville Printing Company) out of their office at 67 Lincoln Road in Walkerville. Two of Charles Clark’s sons: Elmer H. Clark and Roy L. Clark were also involved in the business.

Charles Clark had formerly published the Comber Herald. In 1916, he “retired” and bought the Walkerville Printing Company. It is unclear whether or not he originally intended to publish another newspaper. The Walkerville Herald had been the town’s main paper (since the early to mid-1890s) but in late 1912 or early 1913, it was merged with the Windsor Standard, and became the Herald-Standard. Unfortunately, in May 1914, the owner, John Edwin Dobie, died suddenly (Detroit Free Press: May 30th, 1914, p. 9). His wife continued to run the Walkerville Herald and the Herald Press but around 1916-1918 sold the business to Arthur W. Jackson, who moved it to 28 Pitt Street West in Windsor. Thereafter, the newspaper seems to have been known simply as the Herald or the Windsor Herald. This fact, combined with the end of World War I and the settling of some of the issues surrounding the availability and pricing of newsprint, may have encouraged Charles Clark to start the Walkerville News.

There is little known about the content of the newspaper in the 1920s. The available issues (1934 – 1936) focus mainly on the extremely contentious issue of the Ontario government’s forced amalgamation of Walkerville with the city of Windsor on July 1st, 1935. The content leaves no doubt as to the personal feelings and political stance of the Clark family, which was in keeping with 80% of Walkerville residents. They were concerned mainly about a loss of identity, as well as attaching themselves to other border municipalities that had even greater fiscal problems than their own town. There is extensive coverage of a number of municipal elections: Windsor on December 3rd, 1934, Walkerville on December 10th, 1934, the new Windsor on June 24th, 1935, and again on December 7th, 1936. The Federal election of October 4th, 1935 is also well reported on. In addition to election coverage, there is a lot of political advertising, as well as reports on the proceedings of council meetings. The remainder of the newspaper is devoted largely to local social news of individuals, clubs, societies, associations, churches, and schools.

It appears that the Walkerville News went on publishing until 1940 (the last year it is listed in the Vernon’s City Directory). However, the Walkerville Printing Company continued to be run by the Clark family for many decades afterwards.