By Hans Wilder | The Watertown Post
The Watertown Post is not a new name in Northern New York journalism.
The original Watertown Post first appeared in July 1870. It began as an independent literary and family newspaper, but in August 1874 the publication was purchased by Lotus Ingalls, who changed both its format and its political character. Contemporary histories describe Ingalls transforming the Post from a politically neutral publication into an “independent Republican journal” concerned with public affairs and political questions.
That distinction matters.
The Republican philosophy of the 1870s was formed in the aftermath of the Civil War and the Lincoln era. It emphasized preservation of the Union, national development, American industry, infrastructure, commerce and economic expansion. The political questions of 1874 were obviously very different from those of 2026, but the larger philosophy of building, growing and strengthening the country has a recognizable echo in the modern Watertown Post.
The old Post was not simply a party bulletin. The historical description of the newspaper called it an independent Republican journal, noting that it discussed questions of public and political interest according to what its publishers described as the greatest good for the greatest number.
That independent streak is worth remembering.
By 1884, the newspaper had become The Watertown Post and Northern New York Republican, published by Ingalls, Shepard & Dewey. The Library of Congress confirms that the title began in 1884 and identifies the earlier Watertown Post, published from 1870 to 1884, as its predecessor.
Then history moved on.
The newspaper eventually disappeared, and for generations the Watertown Post name went quiet.
Now it is back.
More than a century later, the modern Watertown Post has been reborn in the same city and once again approaches the issues of Northern New York from an independent perspective with a strong emphasis on American growth, economic development, infrastructure, industry and the future of the region.
We are not pretending that 2026 is 1874. It isn’t. Political parties have changed, issues have changed, technology has changed and journalism itself has changed beyond anything Lotus Ingalls could have imagined.
But there is something remarkable about discovering that the newspaper carrying the Watertown Post name today shares some of the broad instincts that characterized the publication during its original Republican era.
Build things.
Grow the economy.
Develop the region.
Strengthen American industry.
Take public affairs seriously.
Argue about the future instead of simply accepting decline.
That sounds surprisingly familiar.
The historical record also gives us something tangible to pursue. Original copies of the Watertown Post still survive. The New York State Library lists surviving paper issues from 1871 and 1874, while the New-York Historical Society holds issues beginning in July 1870. The Watertown Daily Times collection includes a run beginning with the July 16, 1870 inaugural issue, and surviving copies from the 1880s are held by the Jefferson County Historical Society and other institutions.
That means this story is not finished.
The Watertown Post is currently working to obtain photographs of physical copies of the original newspaper from the 1870s. When those photographs become available, our readers will be able to see the original Watertown Post for themselves, including the typography, advertisements, local stories and eventually, we hope, the editorial voice of the newspaper that carried this name more than 150 years ago.
For decades, the name slept.
Now the presses are digital instead of mechanical. The newspaper arrives on phones and computers instead of being carried through Watertown on folded sheets of newsprint. But the name is alive again.
The Watertown Post has been reborn.
And as we uncover more of its original history, we may discover that the distance between the Watertown Post of the 1870s and the Watertown Post of today is not quite as great as 150 years would suggest.
Photographs of surviving physical copies of the original Watertown Post are coming soon.
Stay tuned.
About the Author
