Montgomery County History Center | David McFarland

November will mark the anniversary of the newspaper you are reading this story in.
Red Oak did not exist in 1855, even though a claim had been filed by a gentleman named Matthews, who was from Page County. He, however, did not follow through; that job fell to Pleasant Jones and Alfred Hebbard.
Nothing much was happening in the village of Red Oak Junction. It was named that because of Red Oak Creek and the large number of red oaks growing along it, and it was the junction of several roads. Regardless of what you might hear, there was no railroad until 1869.
The Junction did not start to grow until 1858. A ferry was started, and the post office was moved from Oro to Red Oak Junction. But even as late as 1867, when Red Oak was incorporated into a city, it was said you could stand on East Hill and see every house and building in town.
In the summer of 1867, a man by the name of Webster Eaton arrived in Red Oak Junction aboard a coach of the Western Stage Company. Eaton related that the driver of the stagecoach was “a rough individual dressed in buckskin clothes.” Fans of local history know him as Buckskin Tracy. Upon stopping in Red Oak, Tracy pointed out a fine-looking gentleman and introduced Eaton to Jason Packard, who in turn introduced him to William Merritt, both important figures in local history. Packard and Merritt were in the middle of a conversation about sending a list of delinquent taxes to Glenwood for publication. Eaton was struck with the idea of starting a local paper, but he feared that with a town of only 200 people and a county with only 250 to 350 families, the paper would not succeed.
Eaton must have rethought his idea, because Nov. 30, 1867, he formed the Express Newspaper. He recalled the first issue being Dec.1, 1867. The first issue was one sheet of paper folded, containing six columns and a few ads.
Succeed it did. The first year he had 150 subscribers; the following year he had 250. Several things to note, however, were the first year it was called the Montgomery County Express and was changed that second year to Red Oak Express, and the paper was printed in Quincy, the then county seat of Adams County.
It is of interest to take notice of Eaton’s account of a summer day in 1867; he returned by stagecoach to Quincy, stopping in Frankfort (once the county seat of Montgomery County) and Sciola to water the horse. All those towns have faded into history.
Eaton later helped his brother, O.V. Eaton, start the Red Oak Pottery Company here in Red Oak.
Now for a fun piece of history. The Express, when it started, was characterized as being a Republican paper in politics and supported the election of U.S. Grant, something to think about.
In 1871, Easton sold the paper to B.E.A. Simons. A year later, Simons sold half interest to W.F. Eastman. Simons then sold his remaining interest to Z.T. Zuber. Nov. 15, 1872, Fisher and Eastman sold out to Joel and W.S. Mayne. After having changed hands a number of times, the Express was consolidated with the Red Oak Republican Newspaper to form the Express Printing Company.
Then in 1895, Thomas D. Murphy purchased controlling interest and combined it with the Red Oak Independent newspaper. In 1900, the Thos. D. Murphy Company was formed and the newspaper was reincorporated into the Express Publishing Company.
The Express underwent many changes as it grew from a little paper delivered twice a week by horse and wagon by the editor himself – rising to a daily paper, then back to being once a week.
In 1917, 50 years after starting the paper, Eaton recalled he knew more names in the cemetery than he knew on the streets of Red Oak, but his paper goes on. “It has published more notices of big ears of corn and big, long, round, sweet watermelons, and told the truth, than any other paper of the same age.”

David McFarland is director of the Montgomery County History Center.