Over 21,000 pages of the Gadsden County Times from 1928-1963 have been digitized! This is one of the longest runs of newspaper in Chronicling America and documents 35 years of life in Gadsden County.

Years 1928-1960 are live in Chronicling America as of May 1, 2025. Years 1961-1963 will be added soon.

About the Gadsden County Times

The Gadsden County Times began publishing in Quincy, Florida in 1901 and is still in publication today. By 1909 it had consolidated with the Quincy Moon. In 1942, it changed to the Gadsden County Times and Chattahoochee Tribune after LaMar Watts, editor of the Chattahoochee Tribune and Chattahoochee correspondent for the Gadsden County Times was drafted in WWII. At the time, both papers were published by the Quincy Publishing Company. Watts never returned to either paper, and in 1951 or 1952 the masthead of Gadsden County Timeschanged to “The Gadsden County Times and Continuing the Chattahoochee Tribune”.  

Article announcing LaMar Watt’s departure to fight in WWII. Gadsden County Times, February 12, 1942

Nameplate change with addition of “and continuing the Chattahoochee Tribune”. January 1, 1953

The early years of the Gadsden County Times saw many dual publishers and editors. R. E. L. McFarlin published and edited the newspaper form from inception until sometime between 1913 and 1918 when R. L. Sweger joined the newspaper as editor. Sweger took over both editing and publishing in 1918 which continued until 1939, when the Quincy Publishing Company took over publication and C.C. Nicolet became editor.  

R.L. Sweger as pictured in a political ad for his Florida State Senate campaign. Gadsden County Times, April 28, 1938.Notice of the Quincy Publishing Company’s purchase of the River Junction Tribune. Gadsden County Times, September 12, 1940.

In the 1940s, the newspaper moved towards having separate publishers and editors. In 1942 the Quincy Publishing Company produced the paper with Stanley Parkman as editor. In 1944 K. A. MacGowan was named as publisher and Parkman continued as editor. In 1945 Cranston Thomas became editor. In 1946 H. C. McFarlin was listed as associate editor. MacGowan stopped publishing the newspaper in 1947 and it became “A John H. Perry Newspaper” until 1957 when J. L. Hutchinson became publisher. McFarlin continued as editor from 1947 until 1955 when he transferred to Marianna, Florida, to work for the Jackson County Floridian. C. Emery Edwards took over as editor of the Gadsden County Times from McFarlin’s departure until his own move to Jacksonville in February 1957. McFarlin briefly returned to the Gadsden County Times for several months before departing for the final time in May 1957. From that time until at least 1963, J.L. Hutchinson is listed as publisher and no main editor’s name is given. As of 2025, the newspaper is published by the Gadsden County News Corp and Erin Hill is managing editor. 

Publisher’s block listing MacGowan, Parkman, and Payne. Gadsden County Times, September 7, 1944.

The weekly newspaper ranges in size from four to over twenty pages. Regular issues from 1928 to 1963 were usually eight to sixteen pages while special issues, including that for the annual tobacco festival, and recurring “In Gadsden County” editions were often over twenty pages. From 1947 to 1948 the paper also included “Florida Feature”, a section containing news from around the state with an emphasis on tourism and promoting Florida history, food, and culture, as well as nationally syndicated celebrity news and household advice columns. 

Page One of the Florida Feature Section, a recurring section containing news from around the state with an emphasis on tourism. October 9, 1947.

The weekly newspaper covers news from the county seat, Quincy, and the rest of Gadsden County including (in order of first appearance chronologically) Wetumpka, Midway, Mt. Pleasant, River Junction, Chattahoochee, Bristol, McRae, Greensboro, Gretna, Sycamore,  Providence, Hardaway, Havana, Concord, Little Sycamore, Flat Creek, Hinson, Old Mt. Pleasant, Edwards and Glen Julia. On and off from the 1930s to the 1950s, the Gadsden County Times also published high school newspapers from Havana High School and Gadsden County High School.  

Havana section of the Gadsden County Times, December 5, 1929.

The Gadsden County Times covered local and county personal and civic news as well as state legislative news, especially concerning agriculture. The newspaper provided consistent and significant coverage of shade tobacco farming, one of the most lucrative industries in Gadsden County and a critical piece of the state and national tobacco industry. The paper also regularly covered the development of Chattahoochee’s largest employer, the State Mental Hospital, the first and, until 1947, only state mental institution in Florida. The management of the Apalachicola River including New Deal Projects such as the Apalachicola River Bridge and various initiatives to dam the river are also heavily covered by the paper.   

From 1953 to at least 1963 the newspaper contained a “News and Views of Gadsden’s Colored People” (later renamed “News-Views of Gadsden’s Colored People”) section to share news from and for Gadsden county’s African American population. Usually one to two pages, this section published personal news, including births, deaths, marriages, illness, travel, military training, and educational milestones, and meetings and events including church news, PTA meetings, sorority and fraternity information, as well as sports from Florida’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M. The section does not include the names of any editors or correspondents.  

News and Views of Gadsden’s People shared news about, by, and for Gadsden County’s African American Population. Gadsden County Times, July 12, 1956.

About Gadsden County

Gadsden County, located in the Florida Panhandle along the Florida/Georgia border northwest of Tallahassee is notable for its historical importance in the shade tobacco industry, African American majority population, and economic impact of Coca-Cola. Gadsden County has historically been and, as of 2022, remains the only county in Florida with a majority African American population. The county seat, Quincy, was once the wealthiest small town in the United States per capita thanks to the so-called “Coca-Cola Millionaires”. At least sixty-seven townspeople, mostly, if not exclusively, white, invested in Coca-Cola during the Great Depression at the urging of Quincy State Bank President Pat Munroe.