The Gatesville Messenger chronicles, sometimes makes history

The Gatesville Messenger has long been regarded as the premier chronicler of local history. The Messenger has often been described as having “deep roots” in the community and has been considered a cornerstone and a record of the history of Coryell County for well over a century. Those “chronicles” were lost Monday, March 16, when a fire destroyed the block of buildings that included The Messenger. All its newspaper archives were lost.

By DAVID SCOTT, editor@gatesvillemessenger.com 

By 1884, Gatesville had two weekly newspapers to serve an estimated population of 600.

The Messenger, serving Gatesville since 1887, operated from office space on or near the courthouse square. Since its inception, The Messenger served as the town’s primary weekly paper, documenting local history, including births, deaths and marriages. Surrounding communities provided correspondents who would send in the news from the smaller communities such as Turnersville, Oglesby, Pearl and several others.

In 1894, a violent and fatal feud occurred between two editors which included W.W. Penn of The Gatesville Messenger and Pat Robertson of a rival paper, The Gatesville Star. The feud culminated in a public gun battle on the south side of the square in which both editors were killed in the exchange of gunfire.

This event is a well-known piece of local history, often cited as an example of the extreme nature of frontier-style “personal journalism” in late 19th-century Texas.

Following the deaths of Penn and Robertson, the two competing newspapers were eventually consolidated into what became known as The Gatesville Messenger and Star-Forum.

Over the years, several owners and publishers were associated with the paper, including Davis Hall and John Hill, and later the partnership of Holt, Edwards and Post, which was comprised of Pat Holt, Sterling Edwards, and John Frank Post.

In 1942, John Frank Post became a part of the newspaper and, during most of his 43 years there, served as the newspaper’s editor and co-publisher. His obituary stated he was a member of The Messenger team for 51 years.

When his partner, Pat Holt, first became involved with the newspaper, it was then owned and edited by Sen. R.W. Martin.

Following Holt’s retirement, there were vast numbers of owners and publishers. In more recent years, the newspaper was owned by Roberts Publishing Company and they hired Marshall Day in 1996 as the publisher. Day believed “the pen was still mightier than the sword.” 

It was written that Day’s biting sarcasm and clever wit helped him author a treasured weekly column, for which even those who did not share his opinions revered his thoughts.

Day served as the publisher of The Gatesville Messenger for 21 years until his death in 2016. Upon his death, his wife, Debbie Day was named the publisher in 2017.

Debbie Day remained the publisher until the newspaper was purchased from Roberts Publishing in 2021 by the Hyde Media Group, led by attorney Paul Hyde and publisher Sam Houston.

The Hyde group began to focus on increasing full-time staff and emphasizing local community news.

As of the fire, the Messenger was led onsite by Janice Velasquez, an employee for more than 30 years; David Scott, reporter; Ally Hinkle, reporter; Jaci Velasquez, circulation manager; and Larry Warren, driver.