The history of the newspaper is the history of the community.
The archives of The Herald News go back to before the Civil War, telling stories of battles, hurricanes, births, marriages, sorrows and joys, national and local politics, local heroes and heroines, friends and neighbors.
The newspaper that is The Herald News was the result of a merger of three newspapers born in the 19th century: the Fall River News, which was founded in 1845; the Fall River Daily Herald, established in 1872; and the Fall River Daily Globe, established in 1885.
Kelly did not stop acquiring papers, however. In 1928, George R.H. Buffinton, the owner of the Fall River Daily Herald, died and Kelly acquired almost 100 percent interest in that publication. A year later, he purchased The Fall River Daily Globe and stopped its publication. From that time on, the city has had only one English-language daily paper.
Born in Fall River in 1874, Kelly spent years working in the newspaper industry in Fall River, New York and New Jersey before returning to his hometown. He became business manager of the Globe when he was 20 years old and operated out of an office so small that he transacted most of his business on the sidewalk outside.
As the owner of the The Herald News, Kelly espoused causes he considered important to the city and was the benefactor of many charities.
When Kelly died in 1938, his will passed ownership of the newspaper to his heirs, who ran the publication until 1967 before selling it to Northeast Publishing Co.
The building that now houses The Herald News has as rich a history as the publication itself. Built on Pocasset Street in 1910 by William J. Dunn, the structure was originally designed as a warehouse to hold belting, shafting and pulleys from his machinery dealership.
According to city Building Department records on file with the Historical Society, Dunn spent $30,000 to erect the four-story building.
Dunn, of Portsmouth, R.I., sold the building to The Herald News in 1927, after renting the space to the paper for years. And although the previous owners considered a move to the Fall River Industrial Park in the 1980s, the paper has remained on the street ever since.
The great fire of 1928 heavily damaged the front of the building and destroyed five of the paper's linotype machines and other mechanical and office equipment.
After temporarily publishing at The New Bedford Standard, The Herald News published its first edition in its own plant on the third day after the fire.
The entire front of the building was rebuilt with tapestry trimmed from cast stone. An elevator was installed and a stairway added, along with steel doors and an extensive fire sprinkler system.
“Today The Herald News building ... has not recovered from its wounds but stands with added dignity and beauty and greater facilities for usefulness in the community than ever,” read comments in a Chamber of Commerce publication.
A decade later, The Herald News installed a new, modern printing press, a conveyor, remelting furnace, plate casting machinery and an electric power plant. The paper trumpeted the work in a special section that February.
“Opening the new building and placing in the wonderful new machinery enables The Herald News to serve its readers and its advertisers with even greater efficiency and completeness than in the past,” the section read. “That resolute purpose is the motivating force in the entire program that has been arranged and made a reality.”
George Darmody, who retired as sports editor in 2003, says he witnessed a lot of change since he started at the paper in 1960. “Election nights were special,” he said, noting that The Herald News laid out a huge spread of food — and drink — for the staff and politicians. “The politicians would come in later and give their acceptance speeches.”
Darmody remembers his editor handing him a wad of cash totalling $2,000 on election night and telling him to pay all the people who would come in with election results. “I paid ‘em $4 each,” he said. “They would come in with blocks of 50 [results]. They were usually supporters of the candidates, the ones who were holding signs all day at the polls.”
“Election nights were really hustle and bustle,” said Darmody, who jokes that he held every job at the paper except editor in chief.
“When I was political editor, I used to get more news at the Belmont Club than at the meetings.” He also gave up one of his trade secrets: When Wilfred Driscoll was mayor, Darmody would visit his secretary every morning, give her a kiss on the cheek and ask to see the mayor’s appointment book — armed with that knowledge, he’d have questions ready for Driscoll. Darmody swears Driscoll never knew what was going on, and there were rumors that he had his office de-bugged.
The newspaper took a big step forward on March 3, 1985, when it launched its Sunday edition.
Accepting change was often difficult for readers, Darmody said. The didn’t like the switch from an afternoon to a morning paper, for instance, or the moving of the obituaries from Page 2. Still, he said, “it was a very respected paper.” Most readers got their paper delivered. “TV wasn’t that big in the beginning and they didn’t have the coverage that they have now,” he said. “People were in the mode where they’d come home and have their paper.”
The Journal Register Company was established in 1990 from the remnants of Ralph Ingersoll II’s collapsed newspaper empire. Robert Jelenic, who was president of the U.S. newspaper companies at Ingersoll Publications, became CEO of the newly incorporated Journal Register Company, which owned The Herald News.
Another landmark occasion in the paper’s history, one that brought immediate and dramatic changes to the look of the newspaper, was observed in May 1991. A new, $2 million Goss Urbanite nine-unit press, with full-color capability, was installed.
“Color was amazing,” said Darmody. “But back in the old days, we weren’t so worried about making the paper look pretty — our main object was to get the news to the people.”
He said the biggest change he noticed during his long tenure at the paper was how quiet it became as operations were computerized. “It was a whole different atmosphere. You had so many reporters, all typing on typewriters, there were six machines pumping out copy in the wire room — and the room was filled with smoke,” he said, adding that the reporters and editors even had occasional screaming matches — which invariably ended amicably, with one buying the other coffee in the break room.
Not everything about producing a paper seven days a week has changed, however, according to Editor in Chief Lisa Strattan.
"There's still plenty of hustle and bustle, maybe more so, given the 24/7 news cycle brought about by the Internet. With a Web-first-publishing mission, our deadlines are tighter and more important than ever. The smoke is gone, but we still have the occasional screaming match!"
In 2002, the paper installed a new 10-unit press, replacing the old nine-unit press, in order to provide a cleaner look and sharper images.
In February 2007, GateHouse Media purchased The Herald News, as well as its six other southeastern Massachusetts publications, from the Journal Register Co. Sean Burke, formerly publisher of Memorial Press Group in Plymouth, was named publisher of The Herald News, O Jornal and El Latino Espresso.
“GateHouse Media is very proud to be associated with The Herald News, O Jornal, O Jornal Brasileiro, El Latino Expreso and the SouthCoast community. GateHouse views our relationship with these great newspapers as more of a stewardship, caretakers of these true community assets,” said Burke. “We are eager to fulfill our responsibility to community service and to build upon the great traditions of these newspapers as a reliable and trusted source of news and information to the community.”
