Texas Almanac, 1964-1965 Page: 13
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Texas' Oldest Business Institution
Texas' oldest business institution has its
home in Communications Center in Dallas, on
land once farmed by John Neely Bryan, the
founder of this city which now has more than
one million residents. In the two modern
buildings, pictured on the back cover of this
publication, are four different services to the
Southwest, owned and operated by a single
institution, A. H. Belo Corporation. Their his-
tory of public service and variety of methods
of communication are unrivaled.
The Dallas Morning News, 121 years old on
April 11, 1963, is foremost among Texas' news-
papers in readership, prestige and history.
The Texas Almanac, first published in 1857,
early earned its reputation as the authorita-
tive encyclopedia of Texas.
Radio Station WFAA, 41 years old in 1963,pioneered in radio broadcasting in the South-
west.
Television Station WFAA, established in
1949 and acquired by The News in 1950, has
instituted many television innovations.
Coordinated through one ownership and di-
rectorship, these different communications
media have helped to write, as well as record,
the history of an empire larger and more pop-
ulous than many nations. While maintaining
tradition, they have modernized to help this
state transform from a sparsely settled land
of farms and ranches to the urbanized home
of more than ten million Texans whose cul-
ture, commerce and industry blend space-age
technology with agribusiness and petrochemis-
try founded in the rich resources of the
region.The Story of The News
The Dallas Morning News has a history of
continuous service since the founding of two
pioneer Texas newspapers. Foremost of these
was The Galveston News, established April 11,
1842, while Texas was a Republic. Seven years
later, The Dallas Herald was established in
Dallas. When The Galveston News established
a branch in Dallas, the union was completed
by the purchase of The Dallas Herald.
The modern spaciousness of Communica-
tions Center contrasts sharply with the one-
room shack where Samuel Bangs first pub-
lished The Galveston News. An itinerant
printer and native of Boston, Bangs was asso-
ciated with a privateering expedition designed
to free Mexico from Spain. His small daily
barely survived financial troubles and several
changes of ownership until it was acquired in
1844 by Willard Richardson, the first of those
men whose vision and publishing skill have
guided The News for more than a century.
Under Richardson's direction, The News
became a well-edited, reliable newspaper and
an influential force in attracting settlers and
building the state's economy. To accomplish
that goal, Richardson also established the
Texas Almanac in 1857. With determined in-
genuity, Richardson published The News as a
daily, later a weekly. Richardson overcame
the many difficulties of the War Between the
States, the occupation of Galveston by United
States forces which caused the paper to move
temporarily to Houston, and postwar prob-
lems.
In 1865, ten years before his death, Rich-
ardson was joined by the second of those men
who exerted the major leadership in develop-
ing The News. He was Col. Alfred H. Belo,
a North Carolinian who had served in the Con-
federate Army. Colonel Belo not only shared
Richardson's vision of the potentialities of
eastern and coastal Texas, but saw opportuni-
ties far into the interior, then largely un-
settled and still inhabited by Indians.
Colonel Belo chose young, able George
Bannerman Dealey of his staff to select an
interior city in which to establish a news-
paper. That young man became the third key
builder of Texas' best-known newspaper. The
son of George Dealey, an English immigrant,
who came to Texas after financial reverses
in Manchester, George B. Dealey was 11 when
he arrived in America. He became office boy
and messenger at The News when 15 years of
age. His ambition, ability and energy soon at-
tracted the attention of Richardson and Belo,
who advanced him rapidly in the 10 years be-
fore he was assigned to select a second city
for operations of The News.
G. B. Dealey's recommendation that the
paper be established in Dallas resulted in the
publication of the first issue of The Dallas
Morning News on Oct. 1, 1885.The Dallas Herald, which John W. Latimer
had established in 1849, was soon afterward
purchased and consolidated with The News.
Thus, The Dallas Morning News, as a busi-
ness institution, dates its origin to the original
founding on April 11, 1842, in Galveston; but
carries on its front page a volume number
dating back to the 1849 origin of The Dallas
Herald.
With young Dealey as business manager
(promoted to general manager in 1894), The
Dallas Morning News was published simul-
taneously with The Galveston News. Their
telegraphic intercommunication and simulta-
neous publication 300 miles apart attracted
wide attention.
Other noteworthy pioneering by The News
through the years has included the 1878 in-
stallation of Texas' first telephone, between
the offices and home of Col. A. H. Belo; the
1886 operation of one of the nation's first rail-
way trains to deliver papers (between Dallas
and Denison, later also between Dallas and
Fort Worth); one of the first newspaper-
owned radio stations; the first newspaper-
owned superpower radio station of 50,000
watts; and one of the nation's first and most
modern television facilities. In 1962, The
News' Sunday edition became the first of any
Texas paper to exceed a quarter-million cir
culation.
As The Dallas Morning News grew in influ-
ence and prestige, simultaneously with the
growth of the city and its surrounding rich
farmlands, responsibilities increased for G. B.
Dealey. Seven years after he was made gen-
eral manager, he became vice-president and
general manager in 1901, the year of the death
of Colonel Belo. In 1906, he assumed the duties
of executive head of the firm after the death
of A. H. Belo Jr. From this date until his
death 40 years later, G. B. Dealey was active
as the chief executive in the institution's
management. Mrs. A. H. Belo Sr. served as
nominal president, 1906-13, and C. Lombardi,
her brother-in-law, as president, 1913-19. In
1920, Mr. Dealey became president.
Three years later, The Galveston News,
which had been outgrown in prestige and size
by the Dallas publication, was sold to W. L.
Moody of Galveston. The Dallas Morning
News became headquarters for A. H. Belo
Corporation with all files and historic data.
The personal influence of G. B. Dealey on
Southwestern journalism and the rise of The
News to eminence in the field is difficult to
overstate. His emphasis on editorial excel-
lence and leadership were equaled by his
stress upon service to city, state and nation.
These ideals impressed themselves upon his
colleagues and those who have made his goals
a guiding tradition since his death on Feb.
26, 1946, at the age of 86.
13
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Texas Almanac, 1964-1965, book, 1963; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113807/m1/15/?q=hardscramble: accessed May 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.