EARLY YEARS: THE OHIO REPOSITORY MERGERS AND

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REPOSITORY BICENTENNIAL
Sunday, March 29, 2015 The Repository
EARLY YEARS: THE OHIO REPOSITORY
The Repository Sunday, March 29, 2015
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What’s in a
nameplate?
March 30,
1815 to
Nov. 4,
1868:
John Saxton and
his son used
various fonts to
display “The Ohio
Repository” over
the publication’s
early years.
Canton’s No. 1 newspaper has been (and will continue to be) called The Repository. But since
John Saxton’s first issue on March 30, 1815, the newspaper’s iconic nameplate on the top of
the front page has taken on a variety of different forms and fonts, influenced by mergers,
technology, marketing and other factors. Here’s a closer look at the history of our nameplate.
COMPILED BY REPOSITORY WRITER GARY BROWN AND GRAPHICS ARTISTS SCOTT BROWN AND BOB KAST
F
rom the first issue that John Saxton published of The Ohio
Repository — March 30, 1815 — the newspaper has fulfilled its
founder’s promise “To The Publick.”
Readers, Saxton said, were “invited to make it a Repository of
their sentiments.”
Thus, for this stated reason, that single word — Repository — has remained in the newspaper’s nameplate for two centuries.
MERGERS AND PARTNERSHIPS
Nov. 15, 1826: For the first time, John
Saxton’s paper merges with a competitor, the
Stark County Gazette. The Gazette is dropped
from the nameplate by the end of 1830.
Nov. 12, 1868: The first edition of the merged Repository and Republican, which had been rival newspapers
in Canton. For the first time, “Canton” appears in the Rep’s nameplate. Republican would remain in the nameplate until June 1874.
Readers referred to this publication as the “Rep and Rep” — eventually, many would simply call it “The Rep.”
The Repository’s nameplate has changed
in other manners over the decades, following its first relatively static half-century of
going by its original name.
Although he frequently changed the
nameplate’s typeface between block and
script lettering — with artwork and without
— for more than 60 years, Saxton referred to
his publication as either The Ohio Repository or simply Ohio Repository. One of the
first few newspapers in Ohio during its early
existence, the publication indeed served the
state.
For a time in the 1820s, following a
newspaper merger, Saxton called it The
Ohio Repository and Stark County Gazette,
but the former always was in larger letters
than the latter.
A later acquisition of the Stark County
Republican deemed it necessary for the
publication similarly to be called The Canton Repository and Republican in the
1870s. And following a purchase of a paper
in the 1930s, the newspaper was known for
a time as The Canton Repository and The
Canton Daily News.
Contact Gary at 330-580-8303 or [email protected].
By late in the 1870s, Saxton’s son and successor, Thomas Saxton, had changed the
newspaper to a daily publication. Although
the weekly Ohio Repository was published
simultaneously for a few years, the new daily
(Monday through Saturday) edition was
known first as The Canton Daily Repository,
and then, in the 1880s, as The Evening
Repository.
It appears that the word “The” in the
newspaper’s name seemed both essential
and superfluous during these decades leading up to the turn of the century, appearing
in and disappearing from the newspaper’s
nameplate with regularity.
The Sunday Repository first appeared on
July 31, 1892. It kept a special “Sunday”
nameplate through October 1930, after
which it was branded the same as every
other day of the week.
Although the newspaper had been
known as The Canton Repository during
short periods of the 1800s, that familiar
name did not take hold for lengthy duration until the 20th century. It was not until
the middle of the 1930s when The Canton
Repository became the official nameplate
of the newspaper, staying true even in its
consistent typeface until the 1970s.
During most of that time, the nameplate
also counted off the number of years that
The Canton Repository was a “Dependable
Institution.”
It was late in the 1970s — March 1, 1978
— that The Canton Repository became
simply “The Repository,” reflecting a readership that extended far beyond the borders of the city. With minor modifications
in typeface and coloring, the newspaper
has remained The Repository for the last
four decades.
Today, in fact, marks the first major
change in decades for the paper’s nameplate. The special bicentennial-themed
nameplate will remain as The Repository
celebrates its bicentennial this year.
THE MODERN ERA
Oct. 15, 1930: Canton’s competing newspapers merge, with The Repository name and staff moving
Feb. 25, 1939: The slogan about being “A Dependable Canton Institution” appears for the first time as
into the relatively new Daily News building at 500 Market Avenue S — the current location of The Repository.
The Daily News name — always in smaller type size — would remain into 1939.
The Canton Daily News is dropped from the nameplate after nine years. The second “Canton” in the slogan soon
was dropped; The Rep slogan would keep “A Dependable Institution” in its nameplate for nearly 40 years.
EVOLUTION INTO A DAILY PUBLICATION
March 1, 1978: “Canton” again is dropped
from the nameplate, again — just as when “Evening
Repository” debuted in 1886 — a nod to the
newspaper wanting to reflect that it was more of a
Stark County and regional paper, and not just about
Canton. “The Repository” — in a few different type
styles and colors — has remained the name since.
June 12, 1874: The word Canton was first introduced into the nameplate on Nov. 12, 1868 (see below) with a merger with another
newspaper, The Republican. However, this date is the first time that “The Canton Repository” appeared alone at the top of the newspaper.
Feb. 23, 1878: The Repository transitions from weekly publication to six days a week (Monday through Saturday)
for the first time — hence the addition of the word “daily” into the nameplate.
Feb. 20, 1886: The name changes to “The Evening Repository.” In an editorial explaining the name change, editors say they wanted the
paper to reflect more than just Canton, and wrote at length about the large number of subscribers in the “sister city” to the west — Massillon.
July 31, 1892: The newspaper prints on a Sunday for the first time, officially becoming a
seven-day-a-week publication. The Sunday paper kept a “Sunday Repository” nameplate through
October 1930, when the Sunday paper began to use the same nameplate as the rest of the week.
Today: The Repository adds its bicentennial slogan “The story of your community”
to its nameplate, along with the big “200” to mark 200 years of continuous publication.
This nameplate will be used as the Rep celebrates 200 years in 2015.