The Batesville Daily Guard, published continuously since 1877, is the only Batesville newspaper that has survived from about two dozen that were started in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally a weekly publication, it later became an award-winning daily newspaper.
The founder of the Guard, Confederate Civil War veteran Franklin Desha Denton, was born in Batesville in 1841. After the war, he tried his hand at farming and business and was elected county sheriff. In 1876, Denton began assembly of type and equipment to publish a newspaper; the first issue of the Batesville Guard was published on Jan. 11, 1877.
In Feb. 20, 1880, after a few successful years with a circulation reaching 1,000 subscribers, the Guard experienced a devastating fire that destroyed the building housing it. Despite having no insurance and most of its records lost in the fire, the Guard persevered, and new offices were opened on Spring Street (which later became Central Avenue). A new press and printing supplies were brought in from New Orleans, and rival paper North Arkansas Pilot assisted the Guard with its recovery. On April 1, 1880, the Guard resumed operations, having missed only five weekly issues. Editor Denton worked diligently to bring the paper back to life and received 300 new subscriptions.
Denton, who also published the Batesville Bee for a time, sold the Guard and moved with his family to Memphis. George Harris Trevathan, the new editor of the Guard, became one of the leading newspapermen in the state. He was also active in state politics, elected secretary of the Arkansas Senate three consecutive times from 1907 to 1911 while he was manager of the Guard. When he died on May 6, 1917, his son Joseph Allen Trevathan assumed leadership of the paper. After his sudden death in October 1918, his brother Jared W. Trevathan took over, with his mother, Nellie Hunt Trevathan, as acting editor.
The Guard came under new ownership in 1932 during the Great Depression. In 1929, Oscar Eve "O.E." Jones and his wife, Josephine Phillips Carroll Jones, of Newport bought the Batesville Weekly Record, a rival to the Guard. Three years after purchasing the Batesville Weekly Record, Jones and his wife bought the Guard, which became the Guard Record, from the Trevathan family. O.E. Jones thought the paper needed a new home and moved into the Wade building on Main Street. With a degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Jones became one of the most successful journalists in the state. He was also active in politics and served as state senator from Independence County.
Following Jones' sudden death in 1949 at age 44, his family continued ownership. His widow, Josephine, became president of the corporation, and their eldest son, James, took over as publisher. Wilson Powell, a bookkeeper, became business manager, serving in this capacity until just before his death in 2003.
Disabled World War II veteran Paul Buchanan became managing editor of the Guard with Jones' death in 1949. He was a feature writer for the paper with a popular column called "Two Cents Worth," which included county tidbits, humorous commentary on the times and items such as funny names. Buchanan also featured "News of Other Days," a look back at Batesville and the county from the files of the Guard.
On Jan. 3, 1981, another fire destroyed the Guard building, located at the time on the west side of Fourth Street. The two teen culprits were apprehended and prosecuted for arson. Again, the newspaper bounced back and moved to 258 W. Main St.
Several editors followed Buchanan, who died in 1992. In 1975, a highly skilled newspaperman, Roy Ockert, holding a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma, became editor of what was by then called the Batesville Daily Guard and served for 13 years, building a computerized newsroom for the paper. He returned to teaching, this time at Arkansas College (now Lyon College) in Batesville in 1988. He became editor of the Jonesboro Sun in 2001.
Craig Ogilvie, a commercial artist and writer, served as editor of the Guard for a time. Jimmy Hughes was the pressman for several years and became production manager until retirement. Larry Stroud, a brick mason with a degree in English and journalism, became associate editor in 1980 until he stepped down for health reasons in 2015. The Jones family continued to own the Batesville Daily Guard, until 2018, when it was purchased by the Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Ky. -- Kenneth Rorie
This story is adapted by Guy Lancaster from the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas, a project of the Central Arkansas Library System. Visit the site at encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
Cover of a special magazine edition of the Batesville Guard; August 1905 (Courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Central Arkansas Library System)