Celebrating the Plant City Courier

By the Plant City Photo
Archives & History Center

As the Tampa Tribune has been acquired by the Tampa Bay Times, along with it went the oldest newspaper in Hillsborough County and the second-oldest continuously published newspaper in Florida, the Courier. The Plant City Times & Observer is pleased to honor the Courier with this historical tribute for its over 131 years of publication.

Before Plant City

Sept. 12, 1884. Before there was a town called Plant City, the first issue of the then-called South Florida Courier came off the press. 

Captain Francis William Merrin was the owner, publisher and editor. Francis Merrin had served in the Confederate Army in the Mississippi Artillery, and after the war he wanted to resume his printing business. He began looking to Florida. With help from his sons, Francis Merrin moved his printing equipment from Mississippi to Plant City by rail, steamer and horse-drawn cart. The new printing plant was operational by September 1884.

The South Florida Courier was an immediate hit. 

In late 1884 the notice of the referendum to incorporate Plant City was published in the South Florida Courier. Francis Merrin enthusiastically promoted this cause and the incorporation of the town of Plant City was approved by a vote of 49 to 1. 

Plant City was born on Jan. 10, 1885. You could read about it in the Courier.

Francis Merrin died in 1900. His son, Philander Allen “P.A.” Merrin, became owner, publisher and editor. P. A. Merrin ran the paper until 1906, when he sold it to John A. Barns and several other investors.

About this time, William Frank Merrin, also a son of Francis Merrin, returned to Plant City after an absence of 18 years and leased the newspaper from its new owners. He published it for a year when he set up his own printing shop, Merrin Printing. 

Barns and investors hired R. R. Tomlin as editor. Under Tomlin the Courier continued to promote the town of Plant City.

The Lost Copies

Barns bought out the other investors and became sole owner of the Courier. 

He sold the paper in 1910 to Wayne Thomas, a 21-year-old man from Bartow. 

At this time the operations were located on the second floor of the Herring Drug Store on South Collins Street. In July 1910, an early morning fire struck the newspaper plant and new presses and equipment were damaged. All early copies of the Courier, some dating to 1884, were lost.

Thomas did not miss an issue, publishing from leased quarters in Lakeland. He restored the printing plant by mid-August. 

He moved the newspaper plant to a larger building on South Evers Street around 1915, where it operated until 1950. 

Dynamic Duo

Augustus Paul “A.P.” Cooke, an editor with The Tampa Tribune, and his wife, Kathryn Cooke, an accomplished journalist, purchased the Courier from Thomas in 1944. 

Under their leadership, the Courier won numerous awards from the Florida Press Association. The paper varied from once weekly to twice weekly.

A.P. Cooke used his columns to promote the acquisition of the Herring lot on Wheeler Street, which was being used by Plant City High School for physical education. He raised the money to buy it to donate it to the school district. It was named the A.P. Cooke-Courier Field in 1945. 

In 1950 the Courier moved to a new building at the intersection of Thomas Street and North Drane Street. On the staff was A.P. Cooke, Kathryn Cooke, Irene Merrin, daughter of Francis Merrin and who was society editor for over 50 years, and John Keasler, who later became a national, award-winning columnist for the Miami News. 

A.P. Cooke died in 1952 from cancer. Kathryn Cooke continued as publisher and editor until 1954, when she sold the paper to Clay C. Codrington.

Codrington was in the newspaper business elsewhere in Florida and moved to Plant City. He retained Kathryn Cooke as editor and columnist and was dedicated to continue the paper’s journalistic excellence. He was named president of the Florida Press Association in 1957.

Continued Growth

In 1962, Codrington doubled the size of the building and its operating plant, adding new and modern high-tech equipment, including a Goss Printing Company 32-page rotary press. 

An investor group, led by Horace H. Hancock, a known newspaper man, purchased the Courier in July 1966. 

With Kathryn Cooke still on the staff, Hancock expanded the newspaper to twice weekly and for a short time to three times a week. 

Between 1974 and 1975, Hancock and The Courier News Corporation acquired nearly $200,000 worth of modern offset equipment and attained a distribution of 7,000 newspapers.

In 1977, the Florida Press Association awarded Kathryn Cooke and the Courier first place for Around Town as best column in the weekly category.

Between 1979 and 1990, the Courier was sold four times to four different organizations: Scripps Howard, Chicago Tribune Company and others. 

In 1985, Barbara Kent was named editor. Along with Rex Davenport and Con Lerum,  Kent doubled the circulation, and the paper was named the best in the state by the Florida News Association. It also received 14 awards in one year. The paper was up to 32 to 36 pages weekly.

Modern Times

Another owner then sold all the real estate and Plant City equipment. The headquarters were in New Port Richey and all operations and printing were done there. 

The Courier was sold again and in 1990 became part of the Sunbelt Newspapers, under the ownership of Media General. 

In 2007, another merger brought the Courier under The Tampa Tribune. The Plant City office was closed and staff was reduced and moved closer to Tampa. The Plant City office was later reopened with one reporter, Dave Nicholson. The size of the paper was reduced, its editor was located in Tampa and all printing was centralized in Tampa. 

The Tampa Bay Times purchased the Tribune May 3 and closed its operations, including the Courier.

The paper founded by Francis Merrin in 1884 has had a fascinating ride, has been read by thousands and has championed many a cause.