By Andrew WestDOVER — Our founder, Jack Smyth, made his first visit to the city in 1952.
Stepping off a Pennsylvania Railroad car and walking through the station’s Greco-Roman architecture with towering columns, he headed into Dover with a mission.
He was contemplating a launch of the first daily newspaper in the capital of the First State.
As he walked down Dover’s main street, he stopped to buy copies of the last weekly newspapers, the Delaware State News and the Dover Index, on his way to the Richardson Hotel — a grand four-story inn on the corner of North State Street and Kings Highway that had been built in the 1880s.
“Its lobby was strangely empty of people,” Smyth later wrote. “A clerk was behind the desk. I made a stupid inquiry: ‘Do you have a room for the night?’
“The young man tried to stifle a laugh. ‘We sure do,’ he replied. ‘You can have a wide choice if you wish.’
“When I asked if business was slow, he allowed that this wasn’t their busy season.
“I got my room key then asked if the hotel had a restaurant. ‘Not anymore,’ he said, ‘but we have a bar in the basement and the Dinner Bell Inn next door serves good meals.”
Smyth recalled the walk up the stairs to the second floor with his typewriter and suitcase. He said his room was off a corridor “wide enough for a company of soldiers to walk down in full formation.”
The next stop was the basement bar, the Snake Pit. There, he chatted up the bartender, feeling particularly good about word that the city would soon welcome an expansion of the Air Force base.
That was an area of growth, Smyth had been surmising, that would be good for a daily newspaper. Playtex employed 800 people in its manufacturing plant, and major highway construction had been ongoing.
He got directions to the Delaware State News office on North Street and managed a tour with a printer. The owner, John Hampton Barnes, was gone for the weekend.
He then walked to The Green, where he got a sense of Dover’s rich history and enjoyed the fall foliage. While there, he spotted Gov. Elbert Carvel walking into his office. Smyth, a former jeweler from Renovo, Pennsylvania, thought about how wonderful it would be to work in a city where public officials were within easy reach.
There were a lot of naysayers along the way.
But he learned and saw enough to think the daily newspaper had a good chance. In May 1953, Smyth bought the two Dover weeklies.
The first edition of the daily Delaware State News was published Sept. 14, 1953.
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Dover City Council presented a Certificate of Recognition to the Daily State News on Monday.
On the occasion of the paper’s 73rd anniversary, it also celebrated the move of its office to the First Capital Center on West Loockerman Street in Dover.
Today, the Daily State News produces digital daily editions, with three of those printed. Additionally, we provide news and information every day at BaytoBayNews.com.
The City Council certificate, signed by Council President Fred A. Neil and Councilman David L. Anderson, read:
“In celebration of the 73rd anniversary of the Delaware State News, we proudly recognize the longstanding service, leadership, and commitment to the people of Central Delaware.
“Founded by Jack Smyth in 1953, the Delaware State News made history as the first daily newspaper in Delaware outside of Wilmington, publishing its first edition on September 14, 1953. Today, its return to a headquarters in the heart of downtown represents a meaningful homecoming and the beginning of an exciting new chapter.
“For 73 years, the Delaware State News has remained a trusted source of local news, information, and community engagement, continually evolving to meet the needs of the communities it serves through digital platforms, specialty publications, community events, and marketing services.
“As the East Coast flagship publication of Independent Newsmedia Inc. and downstate Delaware’s dominant daily newspaper, the Delaware State News continues its meaningful commitment to informing, connecting, and strengthening Central Delaware. Congratulations on 73 years of excellence, service, and community.”
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We thank Neil, Anderson and Mayor Robin Christiansen for their kind words and well wishes.
This editor, accompanied by associate publisher Tonda Parks, said we were beginning a new chapter and evolving with the changing times, technology and habits of news consumers.
The important thing is that we do so with an ongoing commitment to the community, the foundation and the values that made this newspaper company strong for seven-plus decades.
As an example of how our business and the world has changed, today’s newspaper refers readers to BaytoBayNews.com for primary election results.
We recognize that readers want information quickly — and that delivery is so much faster than when Christiansen was a paperboy back in the day.
By the way, the old train station is still there, and our new office space is just steps from where Smyth first got off the train.
