This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website

   Watertown Daily Times website

 

Watertown Daily Times

 

115-117 W Main

 

1895

Founding of, history of, family owned

 

1908

Daily Leader Suspends Publication

07 17       The Watertown Daily Leader, established two years ago last April, suspended publication last Friday.  Subscriptions taken over by the Times.   WG

11 06       Industrial number issued by Daily Times showing up the business, educational and natural resources of Watertown.   WG

 

1909

02 26       Editor Holland left for Hot Springs, baths for rheumatism   WG

 

1910

05 06       Editor Holland candidate for renomination for county treasurer   WG

08 26       First wireless message ever received by a daily newspaper in Watertown   WG

09 02       Holland for County Treasurer

Watertown candidate on the democratic ticket asks for a renomination.

James P. Holland, editor of the Watertown Daily Times and county treasurer of Jefferson County, is a candidate for renomination at the primary election.  He has been a life-long democrat and a worker in the ranks of the party for many years and this is the first time he has ever aspired to a public office.  He believes, and with justice too, that the county treasurer should be given a second term the same as the other candidates on the democratic ticket in Jefferson County.  If fidelity to party principle and hard work in the ranks for many years counts for aught he should be given a hearty endorsement at the polls on primary election day.

 

A man who aspires to a county position under the present law governing the elections is put to a great deal of expense and it is but fair that he be accorded a second term in consequence.   WG

 

1911

01 26       A Good Newspaper Creed

The Louisville Courier Journal gives this as a good newspaper creed, and looking back over the track we have traveled for 29 years, remarks the Henderson (N. C.) Gold Leaf in a recent issue, we believe it may be truthfully said that this paper in an humble way has followed out the creed that Colonel Watterson has laid down as a good one to adopt.  But of this our readers are to be the judges. Here it is:

 

To print nothing of a man which we would not say to his face; to print nothing of a man in malice; to look well and think twice before consigning a suspect to the ruin of printers’ ink; to respect the old and defend the weak; and lastly, at work and at play, day time and night, to be good to the girls and square with the boys, for hath it not been written ''Of such is the kingdom of heaven."   WG

 

12 02       Daily Times 15 Years Old

On Wednesday last week the Daily Times was 15 years old, entering on its 16th year on that day.  In the evening it celebrated the event by inviting all the editors and printers of the city to a smoker and luncheon at Carl Otto’s dining room in Madison Street.  The Times is one of the best daily papers in the interior of the state, and were our people to give it and the weekly papers the patronage they should receive in a city of this size, better papers would be the result.  There is room in Watertown for a good daily paper and an enterprise of this kind deserves liberal encouragement.  Newspapers in every community are always its very best assets and the Times very justly claims Watertown’s liberal consideration.  [Watertown Gazette]

 

1915

03 05       Daily Times doubled its size; to an eight-page paper

- During the time that Emil Doerr was with the paper it occupied various locations.  It was first located where the Mullen Dairy is now operated.  From there the paper moved to the basement quarters in the Masonic Temple, located there up to 1916 temple fire. 

- Ad, 1915, printers, publishers, 2-6 E Main, Masonic Temple Bldg

04 09       Treatment for rheumatism; J. P. Holland, editor   WG

 

1916

03 03       Times to have New Building

Real estate at 115 W. Main purchased by Times Publishing; plans for new printing plant (following Masonic Temple fire)   WG

 

1936      Delivery Boys

 

1937-38 Delivery Boys

 

1938      Delivery Boys

 

1940      Delivery Boys

 

1956

Emil Doerr (1879–1956) profile, printer associated with Times Publishing and WD Times

 

1960

02 20       Senator Hubert Humphrey followers visit, newspapermen, columnists, others   WDT

 

1982

10 09       Owned vacant building immediately to the west of present building to be used   WDT

 

1983

05 13       Miss Ruth Uttech retirement, bookkeeper for Daily Times for 52 years    WDT

12 15       New layout/design of the Watertown Daily Times    WDT

 

1984

07 20       Judy Christian named advertising manager; succeeds Phil Strunz  WDT

 

1997

Acquisition of Wepco (former Weltbuerger)

 

1998

09 09       Ray Graglia, classified advertising manager, retired;  succeeded by Mark Shingler    WDT

 

1999

11 11       James M. Clifford elected president-elect, Inland Press Assn    WDT

 

2000

05 21       Cheryl Gard, Daily Times carrier for over 20 years    WDT

 

2008

01 06       Online edition offered by Watertown Daily Times    WDT

 

2011

08 20       Printing of Daily Times to be moved   

The final edition of the Daily Times on the newspaper’s press will be the Sept. 24 Saturday morning edition. The following Monday the paper will be produced at the state-of-the-art printing facility of the Janesville Gazette and then trucked to Watertown for distribution.  All other departments of the paper will continue unaffected at the Daily Times offices at 113-115 W. Main St. They include news, advertising, circulation, pre-press operations, business office, billing and others.

 

The current offset printing press is just a couple weeks short of 40 years old and it’s showing its age. 

 

In its 116-year history, the Daily Times has been published by only four printing presses.  In the early years, dating back to the first edition in November of 1895, the paper was published on a flatbed, sheet-fed press.  That press was replaced in 1921 with a Goss Duplex press that was revolutionary at the time.  It could print up to eight pages in black and white at a speed of about 5,000 per hour.  A typical press run would take nearly two hours and two sections were normally needed.

 

That workhorse press continued to grind out the Daily Times until 1964 when a major expansion of the company’s physical facilities was undertaken.  The production and printing departments were vastly expanded and the Times purchased a used Goss Tubular Press from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram.  That press was capable of printing 24 pages in a single section, or 20 pages with two of them having a single color for advertising.  The press could print about 17,000 copies per hour when operating at full speed.

 

That press was a tremendous improvement but the advent of offset printing took the American newspaper printing scene by storm and by 1970 the old letterpress operations were converting to this new technology in droves.

 

The Daily Times made the strategic decision to purchase a new Goss Community offset press in early 1971 and by Oct. 18 of that year the first edition came off this brand new press. The press, as it is configured today, is capable of printing 16 pages in a single section with full color on six pages.  It prints at a top speed of about 14,000 per hour.  That is in contrast to the new Gazette press which can print 28 or more pages in two sections with full color available on every page, all at the same time, and can do the Daily Times press run in [less] than 15 minutes at top speeds.  WDT

 

Additional story:  End of an Era Nears

 

08 22       Kevin Clifford gets associate publisher post

Kevin C. Clifford, general manager of the Watertown Daily Times, has been named to the position of associate publisher of the company.  Kevin Clifford will continue as the company’s general manager, but the added title is a reflection of the added duties he continues to perform for the company.

 

Kevin Clifford joined the staff of the Watertown Daily Times in September of 1992 after graduating earlier that year with a degree in business from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.  He initially worked in the display advertising and billing departments and then gradually expanded his duties in the advertising, business and circulation departments.  He was named assistant business manager in September of 1995, a position where he worked closely with business manager Ralph Krueger in all financial aspects of the newspaper. In February of 2000, Kevin Clifford was named general manager of the Daily Times. With that position, he became in charge of the overall operation of the newspaper. He continued to work closely with Krueger on all financial aspects of the business and continued to lead the commercial printing projects of the paper.  In addition to his work at the Daily Times, Kevin Clifford serves as general manager of the Dodge County Independent News, a weekly newspaper headquartered in Juneau and which is owned by the Daily Times.   WDT

 

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Cross References:

               Watertown Gazette, James Moore

               Forty-Eighters: Builders of Watertown, pg 25

               Regina E. Kottwitz, 1920-2008, 20-plus year employee

               Michael A. Began [1861-1915], wrote articles for Watertown newspapers under non-de-plume of “Herm Hartvorker”

               A wisely conducted newspaper is like a banquet