The Dispatch-News Archive

The weekly Lexington Dispatch-News brought the news to the people of Lexington County, located in the central portion of South Carolina, for over 130 years. In 1870, the year of its founding, Lexington County was still primarily rural, its economy relying on lumbering and small farms. During the latter half of the 19^th century, railroads lines were expanded through the area, enabling farmers to transport their crops to markets further afield and spurring the growth of new towns like Batesburg, Chapin, Irmo, and Leesville. In the 20^th century, the creation of Lake Murray and foreign investments would greatly accelerate the county's economic growth.

The Lexington Dispatch-News began as the Lexington Dispatch on September 17, 1870. Founder Godfrey Michael Harman pledged that "the Dispatch will uphold the principles handed down to us by our forefathers, and will ever battle for the rights and interests of the people." On October 6, 1870, the Charleston (South Carolina) Daily News described the Lexington Dispatch as a "neat and attractive weekly paper," noting that "Mr. Godfrey M. Harman deserves credit for the enterprise and taste which mark the first issue of his paper." The Columbia (South Carolina) Phoenix gushed that the Lexington Dispatch " will no doubt take a high place among the weekly journals of the state." In its fledgling years, Godfrey Harman acted as assistant city editor and publisher. Charles Steele Bradford, George D. Haltiwanger, William David Mathias Harman, and Henry William Rice served stints as editor.

On April 24, 1894, the office of the Lexington Dispatch was destroyed, in its own words, by "the most disastrous fire that Lexington has ever experienced except when Sherman's army burned most of the buildings in the place." The Dispatch went to press the very next day, utilizing the printing facilities of the Columbia (South Carolina) Daily Register. On March 17, 1917, the Lexington Dispatch was merged with another weekly newspaper, the Lexington News, and re-launched as the Lexington Dispatch-News. Godfrey Harman served as editor, Samuel Jesse Leaphart as business manager.

On August 6, 1919, Thornleigh Walker and Ira McMorris Sligh purchased the Lexington Dispatch-News. They shortened the name to the Dispatch-News several months later. In the years that followed, Godfrey Harman remained active with the newspaper, contributing reminiscences on life and customs in Lexington County under the pseudonym "Uncle Josh." In 1934, Mary and Wilburn Bruner acquired the Dispatch-News from Monnie Sligh, Ira Sligh's widow. The newspaper remained in the Bruner family for nearly 50 years. In 2001, the Dispatch-News was merged with the Lexington County Chronicle and became the Lexington County Chronicle & the Dispatch-News. The last available issue of the Dispatch-News is dated March 28, 2001.