Famous People, Places & Things Of Marblehead.

Marblehead Messenger

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The Marblehead Messenger's famous nameplate by designed and drawn by Childe Hassam and commissioned by N.A. Lindsey. He was paid five dollars. On March 13, 1830, the first native Marblehead Newspaper was published, The Marblehead Register. After about three years it failed and subsequently other papers emerged: The Mercury, in 1848, The Essex County Times, also in 1847, The People's Advocate, 1849, The Ledger, in 1859, The Marblehead Mirror, in 1860, The Marblehead Chronicle, 1868, and in December, 1871, The Marblehead Messenger, became the dominant Marblehead newspaper for more than a century. At some point before the Civil War, The People's Advocate and Marblehead Mercury, was published. The combined newspaper's slogan was, apropos: "Independent in everything -- Neutral in Nothing." Also of note was the Essex Statesman, 1881 to 1884, and The Marblehead Enterprise, 1891. Much later The Marblehead Mainsheet, published for about a year in the mid 1980's, and, of course, The Marblehead Reporter published its first edition on October 18, 1964 and became the Town's dominant newspaper. The Messenger was ultimately purchased by North Shore Weeklies, and in turn North Shore Weeklies purchased the Reporter. Today the Reporter is published by Community Newspaper Company, which owns an extensive chain of newspapers in the Eastern United States. Marblehead Magazine, which published from 1980 to 1994 in print and thereafter on the world wide web, published its first edition on May 1, 1980. Another internet effort of note was The Marblehead Advocate, which published for about a year in 1997.

The nameplate was saved from the Great Fire of June 25, 1877 by the publisher and perhaps the most welcome edition in its glorious history was published the morning after the fire. As Roads put it, "Never before since its establishment, was the Messenger more welcome to the citizens of Marblehead. Then for the first time they realized the value of their local paper, and appreciated the energy and business enterprise of it proprietors, N. Allen Lindsey & Company.

The Marblehead Messenger's noble nameplate is currently relegated to a page heading in the second section of the Marblehead Reporter.

There also was a Marblehead Neck newspaper, Manataug Pebbles, which was published in the 1880's.

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