The Nashville News is dead at age 138. Long live the Nashville News-Leader.
The News was the longest continuously running business in Howard County, founded in 1878, but after a 13-year newspaper war that sprang from a family feud, it printed its last edition on May 31.
That’s the day the paper was sold to the editor of the rival Nashville Leader, himself a former Nashville News editor. The paper was one of four sold by Graves Publishing Inc., owned by the 10 sons and daughters of Louis “Swampy” Graves. One of the sons, Louie Graves, started the Leader in 2003 after “a notorious thing” happened, causing turmoil in the family.
Nobody nowadays is saying precisely what the notorious thing was, but Louie Graves took several News staffers with him to the Leader, including the editor, John Schirmer. It was Schirmer who bought the News, along with the other Graves papers, the Murfreesboro Diamond, the Glenwood Herald and the Montgomery County News in Mount Ida. Financial details weren’t disclosed.
“The deal went down on Tuesday [May 31],” said Schirmer, a longtime Nashville High School teacher and newsman. “Gerry Bob Graves, chairman of the board for Graves Publishing, and I signed the paperwork. Most of the Graves family members were there.” Gerry Bob, otherwise known as Dr. Gerald R. Graves of the engineering faculty at The Citadel in South Carolina, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
The News printed its final issue that afternoon. The front page featured a photo of Graves family members in front of a printing press affectionately known as Agnes. The front page also included a picture of the News staff, along with regular fare like the meeting of a Parkinson’s support group and a used piano being offered free to “a good church home.”
A Nashville Chamber of Commerce coffee gathering that morning drew a big crowd, including Graves family friends, subscribers, advertisers and public and school officials, Schirmer said.
It’s no surprise that the sale was the talk of Nashville, but interest stretched far beyond the town of about 5,000. “The University of Arkansas board met last week at the UA community college in Nashville,” Schirmer said on June 1. “Sen. David Pryor is on the board, and we had a good visit about the sale during one of the breaks. Skip Rutherford walked by us and joined the conversation.” Rutherford is dean of the UA Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock.
The inaugural edition of the News Leader rolled off the presses on Wednesday. “We’re adding some staff from the News,” Schirmer said, although he was still in discussions with them. “The reaction in town has been overwhelmingly positive. I went to the chamber coffee for a few minutes, and the people there were happy about the sale. Lots of them congratulated me and said it would be a good thing for Nashville.”
The former Graves papers will operate under Nashville Leader Inc. The corporate name will not change.
“We’ve been working on moving advertisers and subscribers from the News to us,” Schirmer said. “Our office manager, Pam McAnally, has done a great deal of the work … Our advertising manager, Tracy Denny-Bailey, has been getting the ads lined up.”
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