Columbus Telegram

Columbus Telegram

Columbus Telegram vending machines
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Broadsheet
Owner(s)	Lee Enterprises
Founder(s)	W. N. Hensley
Publisher	Bill Vobedja
Editor	Jim Dean
Founded	1874
Language	English
Headquarters	1254 27th Avenue Columbus, Nebraska 68601 United States
Circulation	8,270 daily 9,222 Sunday
Website	www.columbustelegram.com

The Columbus Telegram is a newspaper owned by Lee Enterprises and published in Columbus, in the east-central part of the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. It is delivered on Monday through Friday afternoon and on Sunday morning. Its circulation is 8,270 daily and 9,222 on Sundays.

In February 1874, W. N. Hensley founded the Columbus Era. At that time, Columbus had two newspapers, the Journal and the Republican, both Republican in policy. Hensley, a young lawyer, was working for Dr. George Miller, publisher of the Omaha Herald and a leader in the Democratic Party, who advised him to start a Democratic newspaper in Columbus.

The Era briefly ceased publication in November 1880; on April 9, 1881, it reappeared as the Columbus Democrat, managed by A. B. Coffroth and J. K. Coffroth. In 1892, the name was changed to the Telegram. In the early 1890s, D. Frank Davis attempted to publish the newspaper as a daily; however, Columbus was not large enough to support this, and the paper resumed weekly publication.

In 1900, Edgar Howard bought the Telegram from J. L. Paschal, who had been elected state senator. A lawyer and newspaperman, Howard was a strong Democrat. In 1883, he had purchased the Papillion Times in Papillion, Nebraska; in 1887, he had left the Times to go to Benkelman in southwestern Nebraska, where he founded the Dundy Democrat. In 1890, he had returned to Papillion and bought back the Times. He had served a few months as William Jennings Bryan's private secretary in 1891; in 1894, he was elected to a term in the Nebraska House of Representatives representing Sarpy County; in 1896, he had resigned this seat to become probate judge of Sarpy County. In 1900, he made an unsuccessful bid for a seat in Congress. In that same year, he sold the Times, moved to Columbus, and purchased the Telegram. He remained its editor for over fifty years.