The Lebanon Express Archive

Named after the train from the old Oregon railway, the Lebanon Express served the Mid-Willamette Valley region in Lebanon, Oregon. Legendary newspaperman Jacob H. Stine established the newspaper, publishing the first issue on March 5, 1887. Stine had started many newspapers in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, including Grant's Pass Courier, Rogue River Courier, Heppner Weekly Gazette, Weiser City Leader, and Monmouth Democrat. After a year, Stine left the Lebanon Express. In 1891, a friend of Stine named N.C. Cook murdered Stine in a shooting incident in Independence, Oregon.

The Lebanon Express competed with the Lebanon Advance. The Advance was founded in 1889 by Jack Adams and George L. Alexander, son of pioneering newspaperman John B. Alexander, who had founded the first newspaper in Eugene, Oregon: the Eugene City News. The Express and the Advance were combined in 1897 under Hugh Yandel Kirkpatrick. The newspaper's new name was the Lebanon Express-Advance. In 1912, the paper's name was changed again, to Lebanon Express. Originally, the Lebanon Express was a weekly paper. As the Lebanon Express-Advance,it was a semiweekly newspaper.

The Lebanon Express had regular sections for local news ("Local and General" and "Local Jottings"), as well as sections dedicated to poetry and fiction. Other sections in the Lebanon Express were "Geography and Finance," "Science and Industry," "Produce Market" (which included up-to-date prices on common goods), and "Summons" (which announced court summons to individuals and the community). The advertisements that ran in the Lebanon Express highlighted local businesses and many different kinds of medical remedies, including "Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic."

For one year, the Lebanon Express had two competitors: the Lebanon Tribune, which did not last out the year, and the Republican-serving Lebanon Criterion. The Express and the Criterion were in a battle of circulation for several years until the Express achieved a lead of 1,250 to 869 subscribers in 1924 and the Criterion was sold to the Express. In 1913, George L. Alexander and H.E. Brown took the helm of the Express. Brown left, but Alexander stayed on with the paper. T.R. MacMillian came on as partner in 1920, and he and Alexander worked together until Alexander's retirement in 1936. At that time, the Express was sold to H.W. Fredericks and R.M. Hayden. Today, the Lebanon Express remains the only paper in Lebanon, Oregon.