The Times and Democrat was around when the Battle of Wounded Knee, the last significant battle between U.S. soldiers and Indians, was fought in 1890.

The T&D was around when the United States began digging the Panama Canal in 1903. And five years later, when Henry Ford introduced the Model T car priced at $850.

It was around when Charles Lindbergh flew alone across the Atlantic and when President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal following the Great Depression.

State newspaper officials say The T&D’s faithfulness as a local news provider and the ability to adjust to change are the engine that has helped drive the paper through the 125 years of its publication history.

“Newspapers are successful and go on as long as they do because they are closely linked with their community,” said Bill Rogers, South Carolina Press Association executive director. “The Times and Democrat started right after the Reconstruction Era ... and continues to be one of the leading papers of its size in the state.”

Rogers credits The T&D’s longevity to its ability to meet a need and niche in providing local news readers cannot receive elsewhere.

The paper’s ability to remain a reliable source of news through the fire of 1972, the snowstorm of 1973, ownership and technological changes as well as having a history of ’good journalists and publishers’ can also point to the paper’s success, Rogers said.

But Rogers notes the paper’s value to Orangeburg and surrounding cities goes beyond a news provider. The T&D functions as the “soul” and “conscious” of the community.

“A newspaper plays a tremendous role as a watchdog of government and places that don’t have strong newspapers tend to have a weak government,” Rogers said. “The Times and Democrat has a strong record of being a watchdog and not backing down from things. Orangeburg is better for that. It keeps people responsible.”

The Times and Democrat was born 125 years ago as the result of a series of mergers.

Charleston native James L. Sims, who learned the art of printing at the Charleston Courier, moved to Orangeburg and, along with Hugo S. Sheridan, bought the newspaper that had been launched as The Tax-Payer on Sept. 29, 1877, and was renamed the Edisto Clarion as of June 28, 1878.

The new owners renamed the paper the Orangeburg Democrat on Jan. 3, 1879.

The Orangeburg News was established Feb. 23, 1867. The Orangeburg Times was launched on Feb. 14, 1872. They merged on March 20, 1875, to create the Orangeburg News and Times. On Sept. 29, 1877, it was renamed the Orangeburg Times.

Sept. 29, 1881, saw the first issue of The Times and Democrat, published by Sims and former Times editor/manager Stiles Mellichamp.

The T&D was not the first paper in Orangeburg. The original Edisto Clarion, which may have begun publication in late 1854, was short-lived.

Nor was The T&D the first Orangeburg paper to publish three times a week. That was The Enterprise, starting in 1892.

The T&D was not the first paper in Orangeburg to publish daily. That was the Orangeburg Evening News, established in 1904.

But The T&D did outlast them – The Enterprise folded about 1895; the Evening News about 1917 – and outlived all of its other competitors over the years.

Patricia McNeely, University of South Carolina Eleanor M. and R. Frank Mundy Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications and South Carolina newspaper historian, says the T&D is among the oldest existing papers in the state.

According to McNeely’s book, “The History of South Carolina’s Newspapers and Press Association,” The (Charleston) Post and Courier and the Georgetown Times trace their roots to 1734 and 1803, respectively.

McNeely says the reason for T&D success has been the paper’s ability to maintain a “moderate tone” in an effort to serve the community.

“It did not become a radical newspaper on either side,” McNeely said. “It is a newspaper that identifies issues important to the people in the community and tries to provide both sides and enough information for people to make decisions. It provides leadership by finding the people in the community and helping with solutions to the problems and suggesting and campaigning for solutions to the problems.”

Over the years the newspaper invested in technology from a hand-operated press to a powered press allowing The T&D to publish more efficiently and at a faster speed.

The T&D’s frequency of publication has changed. Founded as a weekly, it went twice weekly in January 1908 and tri-weekly in November 1908.

In September 1919, The T&D joined The Associated Press (a newsgathering cooperative), established a Columbia bureau and began publishing five days a week.

In 1936, The T&D resumed daily publication, Tuesday through Saturday, after a short absence. Monday editions were added in the 1940s and a Sunday edition was added in 1953.

The T&D has maintained its publication schedule – every day except Dec. 26 – despite hurricanes, snowstorms, ice storms and a fire that destroyed its physical plant on Oct. 10, 1972.

After the fire, production immediately shifted to The Item newspaper in Sumter. Reporters in Orangeburg wrote their stories by hand and phoned them in to T&D staffers using The Item’s newsroom and production facilities.

Other newspapers around the state, and even out of state, loaned The T&D a variety of equipment to get back up and running.

“The T&D continued to publish because the people who ran the newspaper always felt it was the obligation of the newspaper to be there for the reader no matter what hardship they might be undergoing at the time. That says a lot for the T&D and the people that have been there.”

-- T&D future

Rogers says that if the paper continues to remain loyal to its mission as a provider of local news, the future is bright.

“The Times and Democrat will be around a long time because of the local connection,” he said. “The Internet will not replace the print product, it may supplement it, but it will not replace it.”

Rogers said while the newspaper has and will continue to have to keep up with the growth of “cybernews,” most readers will most likely still like to hold and touch a copy of The T&D.

“Newspapers are so convenient, you can take them where you want to and they are cheap to buy,” Rogers said.

McNeely echoed Rogers.

“The single point that will mean the survival of newspapers is the basic concept The T&D developed when it was first created and that is making sure local news is covered, explained and available to the community,” McNeely said. “Local news is the single point that will keep newspapers alive forever.”

McNeely acknowledged that newspapers will have to keep abreast of technology changes, but she says the prophets predicting the doom of papers have all come and gone before. She noted that radio and television were supposed to wipe out papers, and today it is the Internet.

“But we are still here,” McNeely said. “I know that newspapers will be there in some form or fashion.”

-- T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories at TheTandD.com.

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