THE VERY FIRST printing equipment to roll into Palo Pinto County came by the way of ox team from Dallas when J. C. Son, of the Dallas Evening Commercial, heeded the words of Horace Greeley and "went west".  He got as far west as the village of Palo Pinto, that was back in the spring of 1876.  The first issue of the paper went to press and was printed June 22, 1876, and that was the first paper many of the residents of the county had read since moving to the frontier.  It was up to Editor Son to tell about fencing the range country, report the progress of the civilization in the form of the final Indian raids, the passing of the buffalo, the telegraph, the coming of the railroad, and all the chronological things that go into the reporting of the news and the making of the paper.

The paper received quite a bit of publicity on its 75th anniversary, it'll be 81 years old June 22, and that's a long time for a county paper that has always been a weekly.

Today the Palo Pinto Star is still read around these parts and for the same reason that it was read back in those early publication days, to find out about things.  There's a column in the paper today called "Two cent's Worth" written by Mrs. C. V. Whatley whose parents read about Palo Pinto County in the Star where they lived in Alabama and decided to come to Texas and Palo Pinto on the strength of it.  That was about seventy years ago.  Mrs. Whatley's daughter, Mrs. Joe Clarke, of Fort Worth, bought the paper back in 1934, and owned it for a number of years.

The old files of the star reveal many interesting stories about many interesting people.  Perhaps some of the most interesting and fascinating have been and are the stories from Baker's Diary about some of the early experiences of the cattlemen in this neck of the woods.

During the years the paper helped to promote every worthwhile project of the county, and so did its editor.

In those days just as now, Son, being a newspaper man, took part in most everything going on around the country.  He belonged to the sheriff's force, but he wasn't a commissioned officer, and often served in special cases.

He organized the Democratic part in Palo Pinto County and was chairman of the Texas Democratic Committee for 30 years.  He served as presidential elector in 1908.  He was vice-president of the Texas Editorial Association for life, since he was the oldest editor in point of service in Texas for so many years.

Son actively managed the Star until 1934 when he sold to Mary Whatley Dunbar, and Mary says the paper brought her grandparents to Texas from Alabama.  It also carried the story of her wedding and her own birth.  Other owners have been George Barber, Zeke Brown, the Gene Schoolcrafts, and the present owners of the star are Mr. and Mrs. Don Pyle, also owners and operators of the Mineral Wells News.

The Pyles, expect to preserve the heritage and distinctive flavor of the Star.

On exhibit at the Star office during the Palo Pinto County Centennial well be the 119-year-old Cincinnati Hand Press, used in getting out the paper up into the early thirties.