The Panola Watchman

Col. Tom M. Bowers founded the weekly on July 2, 1873, and the University of North Texas's Portal to Texas History has digitized it, including Volume 1, Number 26, dated Wednesday, December 24, 1873, which lists Bowers as editor. Readers in the 1870s nicknamed the paper "Old Reliable." In 1963 James Smith became co-owner and publisher, and after his death in 1973 his wife Doris took over, the first woman to publish the Watchman. Regular local photographs began only in the late 1950s, when the paper acquired the equipment.

What the plaque says

The Panola Watchman Tom M. Bowers (1837-1916) printed the first issue of the Watchman on July 2, 1873. He had published the Carthage Banner here from 1859 until he left about 1861 to serve in the Confederate army. Type was handset, and news items came from other publications and letters to the editor. Following Bowers' ownership, the paper was headed by three state representatives-- T. E. Boren, Jasper Collins, and O. P. Carswell-- between 1884 and 1906. R. M. Park added a linotype machine in 1915. In 1971 the publishers converted to offset, sending printing to Marshall. In 1984 the first offset press was installed. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Tex Ritter Museum and Texas Country Music Hall of Fame — steps away
  Carthage's country music museum, with Tex Ritter's boots, guitars and saddles in a room styled like a movie theater, and exhibits on other Texas stars, Jim Reeves among them.

More markers nearby

• Carthage Book Club — steps away
• Jonathan Anderson — steps away
• Margie Neal — steps away
• Central Baptist Church — steps away