Junia E. Jones

Newspaper editor and publisher:

To be progressive, a town must have a good newspaper and Prague is no exception. The first newspaper was printed July 24, 1902, virtually as soon as the town was founded. The name of the newspaper was the Prague News and it was edited at first by F. N. Newhouse. It was twelve column, four page paper, Republican in politics, and it served to bind the town and community together.(38)

In 1903 a rival newspaper came into being. It was called the Prague Patriot, and was owned by F. N. Mullen. It was also a twelve column, four page paper and declared itself as independent in politics. In 1905 Mullen gave this paper to his son-in-law, W. S. Overstreet. After a few struggling years of lean business, Mr. Overstreet sold the paper to B. S. Edwards, and the latter continued to publish the paper until 1909. In this year a great pioneer newspaper man, Frank Nipper, came to Prague and bought the Prague Patriot. Mr. Nipper almost immediately changed the name of the paper to the Prague Record. Mr. Nipper bought out his rival, F. N. Newhouse, and the Prague News in 1914, and the two papers were combined under the name of the Prague Record. Mr. Nipper continued to publish the paper through 1919. During this period the paper was printed weekly except for a brief period in 1915, at the height of Prague's first oil boom. At than time the hopes of the town's future ran high, and the paper was printed daily. In 1919 Nipper sold his paper to De Wald and Falkenstine of Hennessy Oklahoma. Mrs. Junia Heath Jones bought the paper from them in 1920 and has been the editor and publisher ever since. Mrs. Jones changed the name of the paper to the Prague News Record in honor of the two pioneer papers. The Prague News Record is a six page, twelve column newspaper, Republican in politics.(39) It is considered by many as one of the finest small town newspapers in Oklahoma today.

Bibliograpic information:

• A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PRAGUE, OKLAHOMA, 1908 - 1948
• BY WILLIAM RAY TOWER
• Bachelor of Science
• Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, Stillwater, Oklahoma, 1941
• Submitted to the Department of History, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College, In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS, 1948
• https://www.okgenweb.net/~oklincol/tower.html

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