The Fayette County Record marks milestone

LaGRANGE – The Fayette County Record celebrated the beginning of its 100th year of publication on Nov. 2, publishing a special commemorative edition and hosting an open house.
The commemorative edition featured top stories from each decade of its history.
According to the history, The Fayette County Record was published infrequently by various ownership groups as far back in the 1800s; however, the Record as it is known today was founded in 1922 by L.J. Sulak and Fran S. Bambuch. It was published in a frame building a little east of the courthouse square.
Farmers Publishing Company, the first publisher of The Record started by Sulak and Bambuch, was a stock company with about 50 stockholders. The company also served as a print shop. The Record staff at that time included the two owners, with the help of the Rev. A.E. Moebus. With the exception of a brief period before the Depression, the newspaper has always been published twice a week.
The Record was the only paper composed and printed entirely in town and had the second-largest paid circulation of any non-daily paper in the state of Texas. In August of 1938, the newspaper published its largest single issue until that point — a 44-page Century of Progress Edition to honor Fayette County’s centennial.
L.J. Sulak, the founder of the paper, was on the board of regents for the University of Texas from 1928 to 1934. He also served in the Texas Senate from 1932 to 1946. Sulak passed away on Sept. 10, 1967. He was editor of The Record from 1922 to 1955 and then from 1960 to 1965.
The Record was purchased by Bonner and Virginia McMillion of Waco, later of Austin, on
Sept. 1, 1965, and they formed the Fayette Publishing Co. McMillion was the publisher and Charles W. Priebe became the editor. Virginia McMillion assisted her husband as feature writer.
In October 1974, a new home for The Record was built at 127 S. Washington, the location where the newspaper is still located.
In 1976, the Richard L. Barton Sr. family purchased The Record. Barton Sr. became the publisher/editor, their son Richard Barton Jr. was the general manager and his wife Nonnie was the bookkeeper and composition room manager.
The Bartons formed a corporation, which is now owned and managed by the Barton family. Barton Sr. served as chairman of the board, Barton Jr. as president/CEO; Nonnie Barton, secretary; Nelda Barton, treasurer; and Regina Barton Keilers, vice president.
On Nov.  5, 1986, The Record became the only newspaper in La Grange when The Record purchased the La Grange Journal subscription list.
After the death of Richard Barton Jr. in 2006, Larry Jackson was hired as editor/publisher. In 2012, longtime local teacher Regina Keilers, the daughter of Richard Barton Sr. and Nelda Barton, returned to The Record full time and was named publisher on Jan. 1, 2013. At that time Larry Jackson retired and Jeff Wick was named editor. In recent years, The Record has added a host of digital offerings, a thriving website and social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
The newspaper now is printed at The Bryan-College Station Eagle and is trucked back to La Grange every Monday
and Thursday morning for labeling and distribution.
The Record has continued to grow in paid print circulation in the past few years with an average paid circulation per issue now standing at 5,680, making it the largest semiweekly newspaper in the state. The cost per issue is $1.
In 2018 and 2021, the Record won sweepstakes awards in its semi-weekly division of the annual Texas Better Newspaper Contest.