Burlington Hawkeye

The Hawk Eye

The Tuesday, March 5, 2013, front page of The Hawk Eye
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	GateHouse Media
Founded	1837 (as The Wisconsin Territorial Gazette and Burlington Advertiser)
Headquarters	800 South Main Street Burlington, Iowa 52601 United States
Circulation	16,637 daily 17,891 Sundays in 2011
Website	thehawkeye.com

The Hawk Eye is a general-circulation newspaper based in Burlington, Iowa, United States, and boasts itself as "Iowa's Oldest Newspaper."

The newspaper traces its roots to the Wisconsin Territorial Gazette and Burlington Advertiser, which was established July 10, 1837, by James Clarke and Cyrus Jacobs. Clarke and Jacobs moved to Burlington from Belmont, Wisconsin, when the capital of the Wisconsin Territory was moved to Burlington. The pair did printing work for the territorial government, and were aligned with the Democratic Party. In 1838, a separate Iowa Territory was created, and Burlington was named its first capital. (The capital of the Wisconsin Territory was moved to Madison).

In Burlington, Jacobs was killed Oct. 31, 1838, in a duel that culminated a "long-simmering" political dispute with local attorney David Rorer. Jacobs was on the verge of a prominent career in state politics. Rorer never was charged.

Clarke became postmaster of Burlington and later its mayor. Still later, Clarke was named the third and last governor of the Iowa Territory. Clarke County in southern Iowa is named in his honor. After his term as governor, Clarke returned to Burlington to run the Gazette. He was elected as the first president of the Burlington School Board. He died July 28, 1850, in a local cholera epidemic. He was 38. Rorer was one of the pall bearers.

A rival newspaper, the Iowa Patriot, was moved in 1838 from Fort Madison to Burlington by James G. Edwards. Edwards was a supporter of the Whig Party. At Rorer's urging, Edwards changed the name of his paper to the Burlington Hawk-Eye and Iowa Patriot in tribute to Chief Black Hawk. Black Hawk was a friend of Edwards and reportedly was present when the first copies of the Fort Madison paper were printed. Rorer wrote anonymous letters to other Iowa newspapers suggesting the territory adopt "Hawkeye" as the state nickname. Consequently, Iowa now is known as the Hawkeye State.