 Cover of an issue of the Renfrew Mercury. | |
| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | Ottawa Region Media Group, a division of Metroland Media Group (Torstar) |
| Publisher | Dana Robbins |
| Editor | Sherry Haaima |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | 35 Opeongo Rd, Renfrew ON, K7V 2T2 |
| Circulation | 15,330 |
| Sister newspapers | Multiple, through Ottawa Region Media Group [1] |
| Website | www |
One of publisher Metroland Media's oldest newspapers, [2] the weekly Renfrew Mercury was first published in 1871.
Until 1919, the paper was owned by W. E. Smallfield and Sons. [3]
According to the Ottawa Citizen , Smallfield's greatest contribution to Renfrew was his local history book. Presbyterian minister Reverend Doctor Robert Campbell and Smallfield collaborated on a series of history articles, carrying on alone after Campbell died in 1907. Campbell's work up until 1919, covering the period up to the turn of the century, was published as The Story of Renfrew. He died of ill health in 1926, his son carried on until his death in 1928; William Smallfield Jr's section ends mid-sentence. [4]
Upon hearing the Mercury was for sale in May 1919, William Rupert Davies took a train to investigate. Despite considering the price for the building and business steep, he said he took it as a test of his "business ability"; he would double its value in the six years he operated it. The Davies family found the community much rougher, isolated, and divided than their previous home of Thamesville, Ontario. Young Robertson Davies, later a prominent Canadian author of fiction, said in interviews that he grew up expecting the unexpected, with a "sense of ordinary people, extraordinary lives", thanks to his father's position. At the age of nine he was paid for a contribution published in the Mercury; a review of a lecture on Shakespeare at the local Methodist Church. [5] Davies apparently knew upon being paid that he wanted to be a professional writer. [6] Older Davies sons Fred and Arthur were given reporter and machinery jobs for the publication. [6] Robertson found himself "terribly oppressed" in the town, [7] basing the childhood adversity of Francis Cornish in What's Bred in the Bone on Renfrew and its people. [8] Davies' two older sons, Arthur and Fred, were assigned machinery and reporting jobs. Robertson's first article was at age 9, published February 16, 1923. [6]
Soon after, W. R. Davies purchased the Renfrew Journal newspaper (established 1866) [9] from W. D. Samson. The April 27 issue was its final, and the printing offices disposed of the offices. [10] [11]
Davies sold the paper and other property in Renfrew to E. Roy Sayles of Toronto, in 1925, of the Canadian Weekly Newspapers Association. Sayles took possession of the Mercury immediately, while Davies and sons Fred and Arthur took possession of the Kingston Whig , which they purchased, immediately. [3] Sayles remained prominent in the industry, acting as a delegate to the British Empire Press Union Conference in 1930. [12]
Hilda Frood was owner, but died in March 1964. The newspaper was sold. [13]
On Frood's death, Boyd, Norman, and Kent Wilson took over. Norman Wilson began as a printing apprentice at the paper in 1954, doing photography in 1958, moving on to reporting until the Mercury and Advance merged. [13]
For most of the years of the Wilson ownership a second newspaper in the town operated. The Renfrew Advance had been purchased by Donald McQuaig in 1951 and the two weeklies had a vigorous competition. Finally, in 1971 McQuaig bought out the Wilson's, offering all of them jobs at the new Renfrew Mercury-Advance. After a period of almost two years, the name reverted to Mercury. The combined newspaper started to buy up local newspapers, first the Arnprior Chronicle, then Carleton Place Canadian. For a short time weeklies were operated in Stittsville (an Ottawa suburb), West Carleton, and Perth. The newspaper was sold to Runge newspapers in 1978. The Wilson's continued to work at Runge Newspapers [13]
Runge Newspapers was acquired by Metroland in October 2005, rebranding the papers into their chain. The group, dubbed Ottawa Region Media Group, publishes 15 community papers in 16 markets. Among them is the Perth Courier , Canada's second oldest weekly. [1]
Births, marriages & deaths : abstracts from the Renfrew mercury, a series of finding aids by Aldene Church and Les Church, span 1871 to 1926. [14]
Under Metroland, Friday editions have become known as the Renfrew Weekender. [15]
William Robertson Davies was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished "men of letters", a term Davies gladly accepted for himself. Davies was the founding Master of Massey College, a graduate residential college associated with the University of Toronto.
The National Post is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only. The newspaper is distributed in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia. Weekend editions of the newspaper are also distributed in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The National Hockey Association (NHA), initially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey League (NHL), and much of the business processes of the NHL today are based on the NHA. Founded in 1909 by Ambrose O'Brien, the NHA introduced 'six-man hockey' by removing the 'rover' position in 1911. During its lifetime, the league coped with competition for players with the rival Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), the enlistment of players for World War I and disagreements between owners. The disagreements between owners came to a head in 1917, when the NHA suspended operations in order to get rid of an unwanted owner, Eddie Livingstone.
Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49 percent owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.
Renfrew County is a county in the Canadian province of Ontario. It straddles the west bank of the Ottawa River. There are 17 municipalities in the county.
Renfrew is a town on the Bonnechere River in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located one hour west of Ottawa in Eastern Ontario, Renfrew is the fourth largest town in the county after Petawawa, Pembroke and Arnprior. The town is a small transportation hub connecting Highway 60 and Highway 132 with the Trans-Canada Highway. Renfrew is also known historically for its role in the formation of the National Hockey League. It lies about 5 kilometres from the Quebec border, about 10 kilometres by road. Renfrew makes most of Canada’s hockey tape.
The Brampton Board of Trade is a business organization founded in Brampton, Ontario, in 1887. It engages in government lobbying, member discounts, and networking. It previously organized the Brampton Santa Claus Parade (1985-2017).
The Ottawa Senators were an ice hockey team based in Ottawa, which existed from 1883 to 1954. The club was the first hockey club in Ontario, a founding member of the National Hockey League (NHL) and played in the NHL from 1917 until 1934. The club, which was officially the Ottawa Hockey Club, was known by several nicknames, including the Generals in the 1890s, the Silver Seven from 1903 to 1907 and the Senators dating from 1908.
Philip Dansken Ross was a Canadian journalist, newspaper publisher, amateur athlete, and ice hockey administrator.
The Kingston Whig-Standard is a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is published four days a week, on Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday. It publishes a mix of community, national and international news and is currently owned by Postmedia. It has ISSN 1197-4397.
The Montreal Star was an English-language Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike.
Metroland Media Group is a Canadian mass media publisher and distributor which primarily operates in Southern Ontario. A division of the publishing conglomerate Torstar Corporation, Metroland published more than 70 local community newspapers–including six dailies–and many magazines. In addition to printing most of its own publications, Metroland operates as a commercial printer of flyers and magazines.
The Barrie Examiner was a daily newspaper published in Barrie, Ontario from 1864 to 2017.
The Barrie Advance is a weekly newspaper serving Barrie, Ontario.
Valerie Jacqueline Candida "Val" Ross was a Canadian writer who won the 2004 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian children's non-fiction. She was also a journalist for the newspaper The Globe and Mail, and won a National Newspaper Award in 1992 for critical writing.
The 1910 NHA season was the first season of the National Hockey Association men's professional ice hockey league. The season started on January 5, but was suspended immediately and the league then absorbed the Ottawa and Shamrocks teams of the Canadian Hockey Association and the season continued from January 15 to March 15. Seven teams played 12 games each. The Ottawa Hockey Club played two Stanley Cup challenges during the season, but lost the Cup to their rivals the Montreal Wanderers who won the league championship and played a Cup challenge afterwards.
{{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help){{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help){{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)