Sept. 11 will be a special day

Not everything bad happened on Sept. 11. For one thing, our oldest son was born on that day five decades ago. For another, the Custer County Chronicle was founded on that day 140 years ago, making us the oldest continuously-operated business in the Southern Black Hills. This is something we plan to celebrate Friday, Sept. 11, with an open house, refreshments and drawings. It will be held in our building at 522 Mount Rushmore Road from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in order to stay away from any large groups coming in a tighter time period. 
Next week in the pages of our newspaper you will have the opportunity to meet some of the people who made this happen 140 years ago. Two Denver men headed to Custer to start a newspaper in 1876 and encountered a number of difficulties along the way. They finally arrived and managed to publish a half sheet news product one time before turning their attention to Deadwood where they established a newspaper there.
How a German named Joseph Kubler came to start and own the Custer County Chronicle in 1880 and became its first publisher is another story. Kubler owned the newspaper for 44 years before selling it in 1924. Since its inception the Chronicle has survived a number of competing newspapers, which was the story in most communities, especially in early years when it was easier to start a newspaper. You will have the opportunity to learn more about this enterprising German and other publishers in next week’s newspaper.
A bonus will be the story of Thomas Van Der Vort Garlock, or T.V. Garlock, as he was known. This enterprising New Yorker built the two-story brick 1890 building presently occupied by the Chronicle. It originally had a grocery store on the main level, a lodge hall upstairs and a bowling alley in the basement. Garlock also built an opera house which was used as a theater and a variety of other things like graduation exercises and roller skating. It is still standing today.
Our open house will also give you the opportunity to meet our staff members who worked right through the pandemic to report on it for you with the latest information and news of other city and county happenings. We took our role as an essential business seriously and never missed a beat.
Be sure to mark your calendars or electronic devices for Friday, Sept. 11, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to help us celebrate 140 years of continuous operation in the Southern Black Hills.

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