THE PLATTE COUNTY LANDMARK BEGINS ITS 162ND YEAR
Founded a few months after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, this week the Platte County Landmark begins its 162nd year of uninterrupted publication.
The Landmark is the oldest newspaper in Platte County, older than the Kansas City Star and one of the longest-running continuously published newspapers west of the Mississippi.
Today, The Landmark has the largest media audience in Kansas City’s Northland.
Published for the first time in September of 1865 in the closing days of the Civil War, The Landmark has never missed a week of publication.
“The Landmark has continued to proudly serve the public through wars, recessions, pandemics and industry trends,” Ivan Foley, owner/publisher, said this week.
The Kansas City Business Journal has recognized The Landmark as the fifth oldest business operation in all of the Kansas City metro area.
Led by publishers who were unafraid, The Landmark Newspaper’s debut edition hit the streets on Sept. 28, 1865, when the first Landmark was published at Weston with the motto “Remove not the ancient landmarks.” About six years later, The Landmark moved from Weston to Platte City, where it has since been published.
After The Landmark moved to Platte City in 1871, it took up shop in a variety of downtown locations until settling in at what would become its longtime home at 252 Main Street in the year 1899. After 124 years in that location, in 2023 The Landmark sold its historic 252 Main Street building and moved to its current modernized and more functional location at 212 Marshall Road, Suite C, in Platte City.
SOME HISTORY
In March of 1899, The Landmark moved into the building at 252 Main Street. Historical records indicate this building had been constructed in 1869 by Dr. G.W. Smith as a drug store and a post office. In later years a grocery store and hardware store occupied the building before the newspaper took over occupancy.
In 1916, Max Jones, who had been the shop foreman, began managing the newspaper for the estate of the previous owner. On Jan. 1, 1918, Max Jones purchased The Landmark and became the editor and publisher. Jones had begun serving an apprenticeship in printing at The Landmark at the age of 16 in 1892. Jones served as editor and publisher until his death in 1956.
Until 1923, the type had been set by hand. In May 1923, a Linotype machine was purchased. The Linotype allowed the operator to set more type than could ordinarily be produced by five or six men working by hand.
After Max Jones’ death in 1956, his widow, Lucile L. Jones, took over as editor and publisher, with Roland Giffee handling printing and press room duties. In 1979, Mrs. Jones sold The Landmark to Dwayne Foley, who was the owner of two other weekly newspapers and a central printing plant.
In the first edition under his ownership in November of 1979, Dwayne Foley switched The Landmark from the hot lead style of printing to the offset method, the modern thing at the time.
Dwayne Foley, 50, died of a heart attack in July of 1980, just months after buying The Landmark. The paper continued to be owned and published by his widow, Ethel Mae Foley.
Ivan Foley, Dwayne Foley’s youngest son, is now in his 44th year at The Landmark, having started with reporting and managing duties in May of 1982. Ivan Foley added the role of editor to his duties in 1993.
In 2002, Ivan Foley and his wife, Linda, purchased the newspaper operation and The Landmark building at 252 Main Street in Platte City from Ethel Mae Foley.
Veteran newsman Clay McGinnis, with previous experience at the Independence Examiner and other Kansas City area publications, served as news editor of The Landmark from 1980 until his death in1993.
Late in 1993, The Landmark took its first step into the computer world, purchasing its first two desktop publishing computers. The newspaper’s news and editorials began taking a more aggressive approach. Steadily throughout the next 15 years, The Landmark’s circulation grew to become the largest paid readership in the county, and today it is far and away Platte County’s largest paid circulation newspaper.
In 2008, Ivan and Linda renovated the exterior of the historic 1869 Landmark building, returning the exterior to its original brick.
The exterior rehabilitation work was recognized by the City of Platte City, with Ivan and Linda Foley being presented the first William Paxton Preservation Award for preserving Platte City Main Street’s architectural heritage. The award was presented by Mayor Frank Offutt and the board of aldermen in March of 2009.
On Sept. 1, 2023, Ivan and Linda Foley sold the building at 252 Main Street to David Barth and son Blake. Foleys moved the newspaper to its updated and more functional space for today’s world of journalism, in the lower level of the former Platte County Health Department building at 212 Marshall Road.
INDUSTRY HONORS
Over the past 30 years The Landmark has won many statewide awards in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest, including top honors in the categories of general excellence and editorial pages.
In 2016, Ivan Foley was recognized with a national honor for displaying courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism, winning the Tom and Pat Gish Award. The award is presented annually by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the Kentucky School of Journalism and Media.
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
In recent years, The Landmark has become a multimedia news outlet.
The Landmark’s Facebook audience is larger than any other media outlet in Kansas City’s Northland. According to official statistics tracked by Meta (Facebook), in the 28-day period of March 28 to April 24, The Landmark’s Facebook page attracted 1.3 million views.
Platte County Landmark on Facebook has more than 14,100 followers. In addition, the newspaper has over 3,000 followers on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The newspaper’s website at plattecountylandmark.com was revamped during the pandemic of 2020, debuting with its new look on May 1 of that year. It is the most popular media website in the county, with as many as 290,000 page impressions monthly.
Platte County Landmark videos can be found on its YouTube channel.
Landmark office manager/graphic designer Cindy Rinehart is now in her 34th year at the newspaper.
Weekly columnists include 15-year veteran Chris Kamler and his The Rambling Moron column. Guy Speckman, with his amusing Ponder the Thought column, is in his seventh year with The Landmark after previously being owner/publisher of the Savannah Reporter, a weekly newspaper in Savannah, Mo.
Fred Felix of Platte City has spent the last several years as The Landmark’s distribution dude, delivering the paper to many southern Platte County locations and assisting in the mailroom on press days.
