The Colon Express

The Colon Express was established in 1886. We know it was owned and published by Samuel Grier in 1900. He sold it to John C. Lochner in 1902 who then sold to William S. Doty in 1903. The paper was an eight page weekly newspaper. It enjoyed circulation in the townships of Colon, Leonidas, Sherwood, Matteson and greater Branch County. The Express was published in a building on the north side of State Street in a brick building that later became Hemels Chevrolet. In 1916 the Express was sold to Frank R. Damon who moved the business directly across the street in the south side brick block of buildings. Frank would operate the Express for 39 years. He was assisted by Frank Baily who operated the linotype and printer. Damon sold the newspaper to Bernard and Simone Pooler on March 24, 1955. The paper continued as an eight page weekly and always included local news about relatives visiting, teas, socials and club events. Another popular feature was the section labeled ten, twenty, thirty etc.. years ago this week. In 1962 the Poolers sold to Eugenia "Skip" and Mel Plath. They raised their two children Chuck and Jeannie here and often the children would help at the paper. It was during their ownership that the paper changed from linotype to computer generated publication. In 1999, after 37 years of ownership, the Plaths sold the paper to Scott McGraw of Patriot Press, a company who owned multiple small town newspapers. They published the Express until April 26, 2006 when the Express printed its last edition.