| The weekly newspapers, The Yorkvile Enquirer, has served the City of York and the western York County towns of Sharon, Hickory Grove, Smyrna and McConnells with news of the area for 147 years. For all these years, long time residents continue to tell how "daddy and grandaddy took this paper all of their lives." It was local news--about neighbors and friends, about local politics, about public opinion, about the local economy. The Yorkville Enquirer continues to serve the community well with over 18,000 residents in the city and surrounding area. The paper is a "must" for new residents because of heavy concentration of school news, sports, politics, and the personal, everday happenings of the citizens. This source allows newcomers to settle into community life with a continuing knowledge of the area and its happenings. Although many of the York residents subscribe to a daily paper, they rely on the local paper for in-depth coverage of local events, school news, weddings, social events and local politics. The editorial staff of The Yorkville Enquirer has been trained to perform almost every task involved in publishing a newspaper--to write articles, shoot pictures, sell advertising, and assist the public with their needs in the company office. The sales representatives not only shoot pictures for their advertisers, but they are able to create ads and write copy for articles, if needed. They, too, have a good working knowledge of the whole paper and help with all duties concerning the paper. Getting out both weekly newspapers is a group effort that involves each employee on a full-time basis. The Yorkville Enquirer is unique because it continues to carry the early name of the city in its masthead. When Yorkville was shortened to the Town of York in 1915, the decision was made to keep the name Yorkville in the paper's name. The name Yorkville has continued to give the paper and the town a sense of the historic significance of the area. Yorkville was settled in the 1750's by the Scotch-Irish. It was incorporated as a village in 1849 and became the Town of Yorkville in 1896. The first paper to be published in Yorkville was The Pinckney Whig during the early 1830's. The paper was short lived because of its stance on Nullification. It was later replaced by The Patriot, a paper with a Unionist leaning. Both papers were publised as political organs. After these two papers were laid to rest, The Farmer's Miscellany, later The Yorkville Miscellany, was published by John M. Grist, who was associated with The Pendleton Messenger, the first newspaper to be published in South Carolina outside of Charleston and Columbia. The Grist family made Yorkville their home and John M. Grist and his son, L. M. Grist, were the first publishers of The Yorkville Enquirer. From hotly debated political issues in the first newspapers, the later papers in Yorkville concerned themselves with news of a more miscellaneous nature. In more recent years, The Yorkville Enquirer has had a series of owners. The Grists remained with the paper until the Shirley family of York took over as owners in the 1950's, followed by Ned Burgess from Charlotte and Jim Owen of Clover in the late 1960's and 70's. The two area papers, The Yorkville Enquirer and The Clover Herald, became sister newspapers under the banner of Carolina Newspapers, which were printed in the Enquirer office in York. In 1980, Carolina Newspapers were bought by Wayne Patrick, publisher of The Herald, and his family in Rock Hill. They were purchased from the Patricks several years later by the Daniels family, owners of The Raleigh News & Observer. At present both the Raleigh paper and Carolina Newspapers are owned by McClatchy Newpapers, Sacramento, California. Compiled by Mike Faulkenberry Planning and Designing Editor Carolina Newspapers |