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Jerome B. Parmenter |
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Jerome B. Parmenter |
THE TROY PRESS. (p. 153) A newspaper of this name was published in Troy some forty years ago, and another during a part of the period embraced by the civil war. That paper failed, and the Press was again started in 1867, by Hawley Brothers. In 1868 a half-interest in the paper was bought by Jerome B. Parmenter, of Troy. A few months later the other half-interest was bought by Charles C. Clark, of Hudson, and the paper was then conducted by Parmenter & Clark as proprietors and editors. Mr. Clark died Feb. 12, 1873, since which time the paper has been owned and conducted by Mr. Parmenter alone, he having purchased Mr. Clark's interest of the county of Columbia, to whom it was assigned.
The daily issue of the Press is a large thirty-two-column paper, and the Weekly Press has lately been enlarged to thirty-six columns. The daily has a circulation equaled by only one paper in the city, and the weekly has double the circulation of all other weekly (not Sunday) papers in the county combined. In politics the paper is Conservative-Democratic. It supported Mr. Seymour for President in 1868, Mr. Greeley in 1872, and Mr. Tilden in 1876. It has now existed more than twice as long as any Democratic paper previously published in Rensselaer County, and is well
established. For the first eleven years of its existence it was published at 208 and 210 River Street. In May, 1879, it was removed to more spacious and elegant quarters at 225 River Street, opposite the Troy House.
Mr. Parmenter, the proprietor, was born in Pittstown, near Johnsonville; graduated at Union College, Schenectady, in 1857; studied law in the office of his brothers, Roswell A. and Franklin J. Parmenter, at 47 First Street; was admitted to the bar in 1859; was a captain in the 169th Regiment New York Volunteers; was discharged on account of physical disability contracted in the service in December, 1863, from hospital at Beaufort, S. C.; resumed the practice of law in Troy in 1864, and was a member of the lawfirm of Parmenter Brothers until 1867, when he became editor of the Press. In 1876-77, and part of 1878, he was State printer.
THE EVENING STANDARD (p. 153 -154) was established Oct. 17, 1877. It was received with favor from the first, as the circumstances under which it was projected attracted the sympathy of a part of the community whose interests are always prominent in a manufacturing centre of the size and character of the city of Troy. Like the San Francisco Call, the Boston Herald, and several other popular newspapers, the Standard was born of one of the occasional conflicts of capital with labor. Its proprietors had been up to within two weeks of the first publication of the paper employees of Mr. Parmenter, of the Press. It was the demand of this gentleman that his compositors should sever their connection with Troy Typographical Union, No. 52, or leave his employment. This demand could be construed in no other way than as an interference with civil rights that was not only unjust but tyrannical, and within ten minutes after it was made the men withdrew from the office. The depressed condition of the printing business at that time seemed to offer no prospect of employment unless those who had thus been driven from their situations could create employment for themselves. Having a small capital, the accumulated savings of several years, they determined to use it in the issue of a new daily paper. Their plans were quickly matured, and, assisted by a contribution of one hundred dollars from the Typographical Union, the type and other necessary material were purchased, and rooms leased in the Hall building, from which the new daily made its first appearance. Those who composed the Evening Standard Publishing Company at that time, as now (with the exception of Mr. Collins), were Timothy Corcoran, Michael F. Collins, Sidney W. Giles, Cornelius Mackey, Joseph McLaughlin, George H. McNamara, Charles G. Sherman, and William J. Tyner, constituting the majority of those who had defied Mr. Parmenter's action two weeks before. The community had already become conversant with the origin of the new paper, and it sprang into popularity at its birth. Its independent and fearless character has largely increased its circulation, and is now generally admitted to possess the largest city circulation of any daily published in Troy.
From the first it has been the aim of the publishers to keep their establishment free from debt, and they have succeeded so well that, while its capital has been materially increased, the paper is without incumbrances, and maintains a solid business standing.
The Standard removed from its first location in the Hall building, on the 1st of May, to more commodious quarters at its present place of publication, and signalized the event by the purchase of one of Hoe's fast presses. Since that time it has given every evidence of prosperity, and is evidently destined to a long and successful career.
