This file
portion of www.watertownhistory.org
website
der Weltbuerger
Wepeo
Printing
Kiessling,
Elmer C., Watertown Remembered
(Watertown: Watertown Historical Society), 1976, pgs 172-73
David Blumenfeld and D. W. Ballou
came here within the same year, 1853-54.
Both were able editors, loyal Democrats, powerful and fearless editors. Blumenfeld
eventually called his paper the Weltbuerger. Ballou named his the Democrat.
Blumenfeld edited the Weltbuerger for over 50 years
during an era when it was the most widely read newspaper in the city. He was
prominent in Watertown society and sired a numerous, talented family, some of
whom became linked by marriage with other old families in the city, while others
achieved fame abroad. His son Ralph told
the adventurous story of his boyhood in Home
Town, a book he published in 1944 after a long career as editor of what was
then England's, and therefore the world's, largest new paper, the London Daily Express. The elder Blumenfeld died in 1905.
10 2003
Wepco Printing,
Wepeo Printing Company is the oldest
printing operation in Watertown. Founded in 1852, the original "Weltbuerger Printing Co.", published one of the
leading German weekly newspapers in Wisconsin. The newspaper, titled "der Weltbuerger"
was published until 1932 when English became the dominant language and the
business turned to a commercial printing operation. At that time the business
shortened its name to Wepco Printing (Weltbuerger Printing Company).
Acquired by Times Publishing, Inc.
in 1997, after more than 150 years Wepeo Printing
continues the traditional lead type art as well as utilizing the contemporary
desktop publishing technology giving customers a wide range of quality printing
options. Wepco Printing has four employees:
Cross-References:
No 1: Time magazine, 01 02 1933: Last week the 80-year-old weekly Watertown
(Wis.) Weltbitrger
ceased publication. Famed German-language publication, it had been edited by
Liberal Carl Schurz at one time and by Ralph Blumenfeld,
now board chairman of the London Daily
Express. Since 1930 the Weltburger had been published by National Weeklies, Inc. in
Winona, Minn.
