The Home News Archive

McCrory, in Woodruff County, lies in the Delta region of the Mississippi River alluvial plain in northeastern Arkansas. The county was named for William Edward Woodruff, founder of the Arkansas Gazette (1819-1836), Arkansas's first newspaper. The area was sparsely populated before 1886, when the Iron Mountain Railroad established a line through northeastern Arkansas, attracting new settlers to the area. McCrory was one of the towns that grew up along the railroad line connecting Little Rock to Memphis, Tennessee. McCrory developed rapidly due to cotton farming, stock raising, and lumber mills. In the early- to mid-1900s McCrory was the commercial hub of Woodruff County. Historians credit Walter Wilson Raney, an enterprising newspaper publisher, with helping shape McCrory into a business center.

In McCrory, Raney began his newspaper career in the printing office of the Woodruff County News (1901-1910), run by Gustave W. Kramer. This began Raney's long newspaper career, though he also served the public in numerous other ways. After working for the Woodruff County News for two years, Raney left to be assistant postmaster. He later purchased interest in the Woodruff County News, which Charles M. James was running at the time. In 1909 he sold his interest and moved to Corning, Arkansas. Raney returned to McCrory just three months later to run the Woodruff County News. Finally, Raney started his own paper, the McCrory Enterprise (1911-19??), in 1911, working as the publisher and editor.

After Raney discontinued the Enterprise, there were no other papers in McCrory. It seems the people of McCrory wanted Raney to continue to be the voice of their city and county, though. Raney founded the Home News in McCrory in 1915, establishing the News as a Democratic paper published on Fridays. Raney printed in the masthead that the paper was "edited in the interest of McCrory and Woodruff County" and wrote in the first issue that citizens had solicited him to "give us a home paper." In 1918, Raney installed the first and only typesetting machine in the county to print the News.

In addition to his newspaper publications, Raney served as mayor of McCrory, county judge, state representative, and state senator. Dallas Tabor Herndon, first director of the Arkansas History Commission and author of the Centennial History of Arkansas, wrote that Raney was "a most stalwart champion of the Democratic principles." Raney inherited his father's undertaking business, which he ran as the only licensed embalmer in Woodruff County. He was the first person to have a motor hearse in the county. Raney also owned and managed the Jewel theatre, a moving-picture house, and the only billiard hall in town. These businesses, along with Raney's newspapers, contributed to the development of McCrory and its establishment as a business center.

Raney ended the Home News in 1922. The next year he started the Arkansas Central Leader (1923-1960), which became his longest running paper.