Man has found a number of ways to measure the advance of the frontier. Shortly after the first settlers move to an area, a saloon will be built and maybe a church. Later a school, a few miscellaneous “houses” and, not far behind, at least one newspaper will be added to make the settlement a community. It took eleven years from the time Missouri’s first newspaper was printed before the first newspaper was published in outstate Missouri. It would move, change its name, and last 120 years. Locating a newspaper at Franklin, Missouri, might not be as farfetched an idea as one might think.

AUDIO: AOWM April 23, 2005 (mp3)