Small town newspapers are a landmark of a community. They keep neighbors and friends informed of upcoming events, honors and other involvements that are important in addition to local news. Social media thought they could wipe out print, but small towns are proving them wrong.
The Delphos Herald has been a mainstay in the Ohio counties of Allen, Putnam, and Van Wert for over 100 years. Situated where these counties meet has provided a good audience for the latest in community news and activities.
D.H. Tolan was the publisher when the first edition of the Delphos Herald rolled off the presses in 1869. Growing from an audience of 1,677 to over 2,200, then, a weekly publication, offered enlightening community and state/worldwide happenings as they occur.
In 1962, the Herald was purchased by Murray Cohen. He operated it as the flagship publication of Delphos Herald, Inc. Additional growth came in 1968, when Cohen built Eagle Print as a commercial offset printing plant, which was located across the street from the Delphos Herald corporate. This development became a major regional commercial web press printer, offering high-volume offset printing, mailing, bindery, and distribution services throughout the Ohio area, but also to clients in Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky.
In 2010, an opportunity for growth came from the bankruptcy auction of Brown Publishing, acquiring the Van Wert Times-Bulletin, Putnam County Sentinel, Putnam County Vidette, and Ada Herald; thusly the Herald flagship building was transformed from a one-paper setup into the central management and news hub for the entire regional group.
However, Cohen didn’t stop expanding the family-owned media group. Over the decades, he acquired more “sisters” and “brothers” for his first-born, The Delphos Herald, to include more community newspapers in Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.
Following his passing, at age 92 in December 2021, ownership of Delphos Herald, Inc. remained in the family, managed by his daughters, Roberta Cohen and Jennifer Shneiderman. In 2023, the Cohen family officially sold the Delphos Herald and the commercial printing operation, including seven other of its sister newspapers to CherryRoad Media, ending 61 years of local family ownership. The Herald’s Wisconsin and Michigan media properties were acquired by Multi Media Channels.
Although the internet has made a significant difference in quickly finding facts and staying in touch through social media, communities are not quite ready to pass up the latest happenings of friends and neighbors. The Delphos Herald has proven that through good business measures and fine journalism, the printed newspaper is here to stay.