How did people stay in the loop before texts, likes, and livestreams?
In towns like Justin, Texas, the answer was simple: the local paper.
This 1899 clipping from the Denton County Record-Chronicle shows how news traveled in the late 19th century. Whether it was who returned from Amarillo, who was visiting from Mineral Wells, or who played a “hot game of ball,” it all landed in one cozy corner of the paper—the Justin section.
One person often collected all the news, jotting down everything from business trips and church appointments to serenading parties and wheat harvest updates. Imagine being the person everyone depended on to document the town’s heartbeat—or the one always finding your name in print!
This wasn’t gossip—it was community memory, preserved one column at a time. Today, we scroll. But back then, they clipped, saved, and shared in the most meaningful ways.