Northern Wisconsin Advertiser Archive

The first issue of the Northern Wisconsin Advertiser appeared in Wabeno in 1898. The town had officially been established the previous year, and the Northern Wisconsin Advertiser chronicled the growth of the young community. The local news items, which were usually featured on the front page, recorded the town's first stores opening and expanding, the first village band concerts, new sawmills, and school news. Moreover, the Northern Wisconsin Advertiser provided a window to the outside world for the rural readership by also covering international and domestic news.

Located in the northeast of the state, the early history of Wabeno was shaped by the logging industry and the development of three lumber companies: the Menominee Bay Shore Lumber Company; A.E. Rusch Company; and the Jones Lumber Company. In the 1890s, logging and lumbering employed a quarter of all working Wisconsinites, and when the Chicago and North Western Railway expanded the railroad from Green Bay to Wabeno in 1897, the area's industry and population experienced a significant boost. At the same time, several Potawatomi families settled in the area and built homesteads. In 1913, the Forest County Potawatomi Community was established with the purchase of reservation land nearby.

For the first five years, Cordial Himley, the son of two Norwegian immigrants, printed the Northern Wisconsin Advertiser using a small hand press. His younger brother John took over in 1903 and ran the newspaper until 1924 when it was purchased by R. L. Cook. The weekly was succeeded by the Advertiser the following year.