Many newspapers have served Transylvania County
since the late 1800s.  In 1955 The Transylvania Times ran a contest
asking folks to bring in the earliest local newspaper they owned.  Mrs. J.W. McMinn won $10 when she brought in
the July 22, 1887 issue of Transylvania
Pioneer.  It was volume 1, number 1.

The front page, which was reproduced, includes a
letter from E.S. Warrock stating the goals of the paper, a list of Town of
Brevard Ordinances, an article about surveying for the Greenville &
Knoxville Railroad to run through Transylvania and Haywood counties and general
news items from the southeast.

Other 19th century papers included The French Broad Hustler, The French Broad Voice, The Transylvania Hustler, The Brevard Hustler and The Brevard Leader.  The Sylvan Valley News began in late 1895 and continued until 1917, when it became The Brevard News. 

For a time The
French Broad Hustler and Sylvan
Valley News were both published in Brevard until the The French Broad Hustler moved to Hendersonville.

Most of these early newspapers operated for
relatively short periods of time and little evidence of their existence remains.  The library has on microfilm, one edition each of The Brevard Hustler, The Transylvania Hustler, and The
Brevard Leader from the 1890s, as well as one issue of the Sylvan Valley News from 1900 and one from 1902.

The earliest actual newspaper available in the Local History Room is The French Broad Voice from May 18, 1888.
 Much of the news within this paper is
not local.  There was an article on
the railroad survey through the county from Greenville and obituaries for Alex D.B. Allison and Mary Lila Henning. 

Beginning in 1903 the
microfilm holdings at the Library become more complete with only occasional
gaps. 

The largest gaps in The Transylvania Times holdings are October 1931 – December 1932, July 1940 – March 1941 and April – August 1953.  If you have any papers from those dates the Library is interested in helping preserve them.  

The Sylvan Valley News (1900-1916) and The Brevard News (1917-1922) are also available at digitalnc.org.

A column in the October 8, 1931 edition of The Brevard News  welcomes The Transylvania Times, a new newspaper in the county. 
James T. Fain was the editor and C.M. Ogle the business manager.  Miss Alma Trowbridge ran the local office,
which was located in the former Chamber of Commerce rooms of the Breese building.   The paper
was printed in Hendersonville though.  The
two newspapers co-existed through the end of December 1932 when The Brevard News ceased
publication. 

Researchers use these old newspapers to learn about the
community, early businesses, industries, organizations, churches and much
more.  Genealogists use the collection to
find out about their families through news stories and obituaries.

Photographs and information for this
column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania
County Library.  Visit the NC Room during
regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see
additional photographs.  For more
information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at [email protected]
or 828-884-3151 X242.

ABOVE:

Banners from early Transylvania County
newspapers, including Transylvania
Pioneer, July 22, 1887; French Broad
Voice, May 18, 1888; The Transylvania
Hustler, November 2, 1893; The
Brevard Hustler, April 30, 1896; The
Brevard Leader, June 22, 1899 and Sylvan
Valley News, November 30, 1900.