Lufkin Daily News

The paper's national moment began with a Lufkin-area recruit. Lynn McClure, called Bubba, suffered a head injury in a pugil stick bayonet drill in December 1975 and died in March 1976. The News questioned how the Marines had accepted him despite low mental ability, a criminal record and a failed entrance exam. The reporting caught the attention of Representative Charlie Wilson and led to a presidential inquiry and a congressional investigation. Reforms in Marine recruiting and training followed, and officers and noncommissioned officers were reprimanded or court-martialed. Editor Joe Murray and reporter Ken Herman shared the 1977 prize.

What the plaque says

Lufkin Daily News THE FIRST NOTICE FOUND OF THE DAILY NEWSPAPER IN LUFKIN IS IN THE FEB. 14, 1907 NACOGDOCHES SENTINEL: "LUFKIN HAS AN AFTERNOON DAILY PAPER, THE NEWS. WHILE A COPY OF THE NEWSPAPER HAS NEVER REACHED THIS OFFICE, IT IS SAID TO BE A RIGHT NEWSY LITTLE SHEET." CHARLES L. SCHLESS, OF CHICAGO, STARTED THE PAPER AND RAN IT ON HIS OWN FOR ITS FIRST TWO YEARS OF PRODUCTION BEFORE SELLING PART OF THE OWNERSHIP TO SHAREHOLDERS. THE PAPER WAS THEN SOLD TO GEORGE WATFORD IN 1913. THE NEWS WAS PUBLISHED TWICE WEEKLY UNTIL 1915 WHEN THEN-OWNERS WATFORD, BINION, AND KURTH PURCHASED A MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE MACHINE. THE NEW MACHINE SPED UP THE PRODUCTION PROCESS BY MECHANIZING TYPESETTING AND THE NEWSPAPER HAS PUBLISHED DAILY EVER SINCE. OWNERS OF THE LUFKIN DAILY NEWS HAVE PRIORITIZED A COMMITMENT TO INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY, WHICH HAS ALLOWED THE NEWS TO BREAK PUBLISHING RECORDS AND PLAY A SUPPORTING ROLE IN LOCAL INDUSTRY. ON JANUARY 14, 1940, THE NEWS PUBLISHED A RECORD-SETTING 288-PAGE EDITION TO MARK THE COMPLETION OF SOUTHLAND PAPER MILLS INC. IT WAS PRINTED ON THE MILL'S FIRST 1,445-POUND ROLL OF WHITE PAPER FROM THE FIRST RUN OF COMMERCIALLY PRODUCED SOUTHERN PINE NEWSPRINT IN THE WORLD. IN 1959, THE NEWS MOVED TO ITS CURRENT FACILITY THAT IS A SHORT WALK FROM ITS ORIGINAL LOCATION ON COTTON SQUARE. THE NEWS MADE ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE AREA WHEN IT COMPUTERIZED ITS PRODUCTION PROCESS IN 1974. THE LUFKIN DAILY NEWS RECEIVED THE PULITZER PRIZE IN JOURNALISM FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE IN 1977. FOR MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS, THE NEWS HAS PROVIDED RESIDENTS OF LUFKIN AND THE SURROUNDING AREA WITH NEWS OF LOCAL INTEREST AND HAS UPHELD ITS POSITION AS AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE TO THE COMMUNITY. 175 YEARS OF TEXAS INDEPENDENCE * 1836-2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 30 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• KRBA-AM Radio Station — steps away
• Site of Rehearsal Hall for The Hoo Hoo Band — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Lufkin — 0.3 mi
• Site of Martin Wagon Company — 0.3 mi