OPINION
A friend of mine sent a clipping from the second issue of the Pilot Point Post from Sept. 7, 1878.
In it, the founders of the paper you're reading today shared their concerns about starting a new publication in a community 'knowing as we do, the unsuccessful career of so many newspapers in our town.'
That exact topic came up on Saturday, when UNT's Ana Krahmer came to town to help people understand how to navigate the Portal to Texas History to explore the Post-Signal's available archives.
When J.T. Jones and D.J. Moffitt started their endeavor, it was 'devoted to the spread of useful knowledge among the people.'
The times may have changed, but the reason for publishing this newspaper hasn't.
If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out the post that the Pilot Point Historic Photos page published on Aug. 7 about our founding.
For nearly 148 years, this publication has documented the lives of the people in and around Pilot Point as well as the life cycles of the businesses throughout the community.
I can't help but look back on what Jones and Moffitt said in that second publication as they expressed their mingled confidence and fears about how their endeavor would turn out. 'In conclusion, we ask the hearty co-operation of all our citizens who are interested in the prosperity of our town and community; for without that cooperation our enterprise will not meet that degree of success which we sincerely hope it may attain,' they wrote.
I wonder what they would think to see their creation now and the way that modern life has given it the potential for worldwide reach.
It's amazing, too, how despite so many changes from 1878 to now, we ultimately still rely on that same concept— the cooperation of our communities so we can do our part to help those communities we cover succeed.
I'm grateful Jones and Moffitt didn't let fear stop them.
Abigail Bardwell is the Editor & Publisher of the Post-Signal, and she serves on both the North and East Texas Press Association and the Texas Press Association boards. She can be reached at abardwell@postsignal. com.
