The first newspaper in Silverton, the
Appeal was founded as a weekly newspaper in 1880 by Henry G. Guild. Author
Homer Davenport, who was raised in Silverton, had strong ties to the
Appeal in his youth; he discussed its early days in his autobiographical work
The Country Boy (1910), and described Guild as the "best editor the Silverton
Appeal ever had." The paper changed hands a number of times in its first few decades. In 1890, Guild sold the
Appeal to Lou Adams and Fred Warnock. Edgar W. Stahl was connected to the
Appeal until he severed his ties to start a rival paper called the
Silvertonian in 1902. He sold it a few months later to Wiles & Hodges. In 1903, H. E. Browne & Dr. Leonard, who owned the
Silvertonian, purchased the
Appeal from J. E. Hosmer and consolidated the two papers to form the
Silvertonian-Appeal. H. E. Browne ran the
Appeal from 1904 to 1910, part of the time in partnership with his brother Gilford D. Browne. In April 1910, H. E. Hodges became the owner. In December 1929, he sold the paper to H. T. Allen. Hoblitt then purchased the
St. Helens Mist in May 1930 for $25,000 from Ira B. Hyde. After a month Hoblitt sold the
Mist back to Hyde and repurchased the
Appeal from Allen. In July 1930, Hoblitt purchased the
Silverton Tribune from Kottek and merged it with his
Appeal to form the
Silverton Appeal-Tribune. In 1960 Hoblitt's son, Mahlon Hoblitt, and his daughter-in-law Hildegarde Hoblitt sold the paper to Ralph and Geneva Rose. Around that time Joe and Joan Davis became business partners with the Roses and bought the paper in 1970 when they retired. In 1976, Rodger Eddy, who owned the
North Willamette News and
Molalla Pioneer, sold the
Mount Angel News to Joe Davis, who merged it with his
Appeal-Tribune to form the
Silverton Appeal-Tribune and Mount Angel News. In 1984, Davis sold the
Appeal-Tribune/Mount Angel News to Bill Woodall, owner of the
Stayton Mail. A year later the company filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and then was sold in December 1990 to the Statesman Journal Co. for $1.1 million. The new owners published the
Statesman Journal and were owned by
Gannett.''
Three decades later Gannett discontinued the Appeal Tribune'' as of Sept. 14, 2022. == Ames building ==