Happy Birthday, Register Star

March 20th, 2009 at 10:46am Linda Grist Cunningham

Depending on who is counting and how, we are either 121 or 154 today. There’s a story published in 1888 and reprinted in 1936 that says the Register Star was founded on March 20, 1888. Officially, the RRS says its birthday is March 20, 1855, which takes us all the way back to the beginnings of Rockford and a half dozen weeklies that combined — eventually — to become the RRS.

We use the March 20, 1855, date every single day on the front page, and, darned if we didn’t all forget — except for Jeniece Smith, an NIU student who has worked in our newsroom for many years. She reminded me this morning; thank you, Jeniece! I guess that’s what happens when one gets “darned old”; everyone forgets your birthday.

 

So, to the folks in the News Tower, happy birthday. We were here when this side of the river was little more than a wilderness. We were here before the Civil War. We were here during the Great Depression and World War II. We made it through the gas lines and polyester of the 1970s and the Vietnam War. We survived disco and the 1980s big hair. We held the community together during the tragedies of Sept. 11, 2001 — and planted the trees out front against the tower so that we would never forget.  We made the transition from hot type to cold type to no type. I am sure we’ll be the Rock River Valley’s leading source of news, information and advertising when we’re doing it in holograms.

 

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