On October 5th, 1899, the Boissevain Recorder published their first community newspaper. Now, 125 years later editor-publisher, Lorraine Houston is celebrating this significant milestone with her staff and her community with coffee and goodies at the Boissevain Legion next week Friday.
The year of 2024 marks a number of milestones for Houston. She began her journey into the world of journalism in 1980 when she interviewed for a job as a local reporter with then-editor, Miles Phillips. That was 45 years ago. Then in 1999 she purchased the paper in the very year the paper celebrated its 100th Anniversary.
"Every business has history, some are just longer than others, that's for sure," explains Houston. "But when you think 125 years, what the paper has all seen. We've watched all that has happened, but so it is amazing. It is really amazing to document the challenges you know, again, prairie life, the settlement years, that amazing history of how this community started here in the Turtle Mountain area."
Houston says the local newspaper was a way for a community to stay connected with each other, as well as what was happening in the world outside of their community.
"That's probably why people enjoy continuing their support of the paper. It was like being part of the family and helping to keep everybody connected. And how it was all intertwined with and so they looked forward to those news articles, as well as reaching news outside of our area because we didn't have radio, television and Internet, so they really relied on that."
"Still to this day people want to know about what's happening at their school, or down the street, what volunteerism is taking place. All that is an important part of our community, and the local newspaper documents that."
Houston attributes the success of the Boissevain paper to their dynamic staff. "I wish I could name them all. They have kept me going, and Paul Rayner has been here with me for 26 years and has written thousands of articles. He's as much a part of this institution as I am!"
Paul studied at Brandon University and started as a summer student in 1991 at the Recorder. Working other jobs and writing weekly columns for the Brandon Sun for numerous years he caught the attention of then-editor, Miles Phillips. Rayner was hired on a trial basis at the start of 1998. "And the trial has never ended!" he laughs.
In preparing for next Friday's celebration the staff has been pouring over old editions of the Recorder, pulling out articles of memorable events that took place over the decades of documented history to include in their special 125th edition.
"So, we were looking through some old photos and you can get so absorbed in it, in the archives. We were, and are still, recording the history of this community and it's so important and people need to know what has happened so that they can build on the future of our town."
At the October 11th celebration at the Boissevain Legion, publications of the Boissevain Recorder from 1950-2024 will be on display for folks to take a stroll down memory lane, or to get a glimpse of what life was like in a rural town that many years ago.
"We do have all publications right from 1899 to today still in print, but some of the older ones from 1899 to 1950, the pages are quite brittle and so we keep them at the library. When I moved the Recorder to our new location here from 7th Street (from where the Co-op Food Store now stands), I did give them to the library where they’re keeping them," she explains. "But I have 75 years of them here and I wanted to put them out on display where people can go through and reminisce, look at them and flip through those pages."
"And so, we are taking them to the Legion Hall where we can lay them all out and I hope people can enjoy them. Tell me some stories. Maybe there are some updates of something that happened from 20 years ago that you see, and you can give us more stories to write about," adds Houston.
The Boissevain Recorder 125th Anniversary Celebration takes place Friday, October 11th at the Boissevain Legion Hall, this in recognition of National Newspaper Week October 6-12th.
- Complimentary donuts & coffee will be served from 9:30 -11:30 am
- Complimentary cake & beverages will be served from 1:30 -4:00 pm
Please listen to more with Lorraine Houston below!