The First Issue of the Longmont Ledger, dated Sep 12,1879

History of the Longmont Ledger

The Longmont Ledger was one of Longmont’s first newspapers, publishing its inaugural issue on September 12, 1879. The newspaper quickly became a major player in the Longmont community, and continued publishing papers regularly until 1969, when it was sold to new owners.

The Valley Home and Farm

After Longmont was created as the Chicago-Colorado Colony in 1871, an early newspaper called the Valley Home and Farm was published beginning in 1878, “Devoted to Agriculture, Home Culture, Household Economy, and Topics of the Times.”

Only one issue of the Valley Home and Farm has survived to the present, dated June 29, 1878. The page is marked “Vol. 2. No. 8.”, indicating that publication likely began sometime in early 1878. However, within a year, printing had stopped.

Founding of the Longmont Ledger

Towards the end of summer 1879, the Longmont Ledger was preparing to begin publishing.

C. W. Boynton and J. J. Jilson had purchased the press and publishing equipment of the Valley Home and Farm. Colonel Byron Carr, Longmont’s district attorney and an influential member of the community, had been hoping to start a newspaper and became one of the Ledger’s proprietors.

Due to Carr’s busy and profitable law business, he declined to also serve as editor of the Longmont Ledger, despite rumors to the contrary. Instead, that role was given to a Geo. B. McFadden.

Soon they were ready to compete with the Longmont Press, run by brothers Elmer and Fred Beckwith.

Then, on September 7, 1879, the Longmont Press building burned to the ground in a fire that struck Main Street, between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Quickly, Boynton and Jilson moved up their schedule and printed a special first edition the next day, September 8. You can read the first edition of the Longmont Ledger in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection here.

Special Issue of the Longmont Ledger 1879 Announcing Longmont Fire — Dating Monday, Sep. 8, 1879, an extra issue printed prior to the first official Longmont Ledger newspaper. This extra reported on the Longmont fire that destroyed the offices of the Longmont Press.

However, in the frontier spirit of camaraderie the Longmont Ledger printed the Longmont Press for several weeks. Still, after a short time the Press closed its doors.

The Ledger, however, grew and flourished. At one point, its operations were housed in the Dickens Opera House on Main Street.

In 1898, Boynton took over as editor of the paper (in addition to being its printer and business manager), and continued in the role until his death in 1926.

Boynton standing in front of the Longmont Ledger printing office between 1898 and 1902 — C. W. Boynton (hands on hips) in front of the Longmont Ledger printing office between 1898 and 1902. Photo courtesy of the Longmont Museum, reprinted from the Longmont Observer under a creative commons license.

Boynton’s daughter published the paper for several months, having previously served as associate manager, before selling it to Irvin G. Stafford.

Political Endorsements

In the late 19th century, it was common for newspapers to openly endorse a political party. From its opening issue, the Ledger sided staunchly with the Republican party and endorsed candidates in local elections for county clerk, county treasurer, and campaigns for state Supreme Court judges. In addition, the paper reported and commented on elections in other states.

Sale & Rebranding From 1969 to 1971

In 1969, the Longmont Ledger was sold to Bill Stark, who renamed it the Longmont Commercial Ledger and then the Boulder County Commercial Ledger.

According to the Library of Congress, it was then published from 1971 on as the Longmont Scene by the Agnes S. Roberts Publishing Company.

The last recorded issue dates to April 26, 1973, but it’s unknown when the Longmont Scene was discontinued.

Prairie Mountain Media

After some years, the Longmont Ledger was purchased in Oct 2009 by the Boulder Daily Camera, which ran the resurrected newspaper for a few years, changing its name to the Longmont Weekly, before its parent company Prairie Mountain Media pulled the plug in 2013.

Prairie Mountain Media, a publishing company owned by a New York-based hedge fund, still owns the Daily Camera, Denver Post, Longmont Times-Call, and Loveland Reporter-Herald.

The Longmont Ledger Today

Today, the Longmont Ledger is back as a digital magazine, publishing about subjects with connections to the Longmont area, Boulder County, and Colorado in general.

Harking back to its roots in commerce and business, the Ledger also focuses on providing opportunities for Longmont businesses to raise their digital profile and get the word out online.

Where to Read Historical Issues of the Longmont Ledger

Many original issues of the Longmont Ledger have been preserved on microfilm and are free to read online. These digitized newspapers are split between several collections as follows:

Sep 1879-Dec 1928: Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection has 2050 issues from this time period, digitized from microfilm held by the Longmont Public Library and History Colorado. Some funding was also provided by the Longmont Museum.
Nov 1879-Jun 1946: Carnegie Library for Local History, 8 issues are available.
More microfilms are available to view in the Longmont Public Library, but cannot be checked out.
Digital articles published from 2009 to 2013 can be found in the Times-Call archive.

The Longmont Genealogical Society also has an index of birth, marriage, and death dates published by the Longmont Ledger between Sep 1879 and 1935. You can access their Longmont Ledger Newspaper Index here. Note that the original microfilms are not available as part of the index.