Pioneering partners set high standards – A history of the Age
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| Photo courtesy of the Engquist family |
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"Enky" Engquist (left) and Tony Klee were partners in the Aitkin Independent Age for 25 years and were friends for even longer.
We've been here for absolutely ages and ages!
The Aitkin Age was founded on April 7, 1883, by E. F. Barrett, a young newspaperman employed at the old St. Paul Globe. He started the paper with a few fonts of type, an old Washington hand press, some other equipment and lots of courage, ambition and the backing of local business interests. The newspaper soon became the official publication of Aitkin and Itasca County until Itasca County became organized.
Barrett was succeeded by Freeman Krech, a young accountant and freelance writer from New York. The newspaper was published in a small frame building on the west side of Minnesota Avenue. It then moved to the building now occupied by Gramma's Pantry, where it stayed until the mid 1890s. It moved again to the F. M. Shook building, where Sprint is now located, remaining until 1910. In the meantime, the paper changed hands several times, reverting many times to the proprietorship of Krech.
In 1901, B. L. Hollister started the Aitkin Independent, as editor and pubisher, with Tony Klee as the printer's devil. Two newpapers were published for several years and then in 1912, the Age, now under the ownership of Hollister and the Independent under Krech, consolidated under the name Aitkin Independent Age.
A third weekly operation, the Aitkin Republican was in existence from 1901 to 1943, and was founded by E.A Zuver, a retired lumberman. A.L. Hamilton Operated the Republican until his death in the late 1930s. The Republican was bought by the Independent Age 1945.
The building that now houses the Age at 213 Minnesota Ave. N. in Aitkin was built in 1926. Enky Engquist, Klee and Henry Mead operated the paper in the 1930s. Mead moved to Nebraska after World War II, but returned to Aitkin and bought the paper in 1962 when Engquist retired. Mead’s daughter, Evonne Agnello, became publisher in 1978.
On May 1, 1996, Dick Norlander purchased the newspaper from the Mead family. Active in the newspaper business all his life, Norlander has also owned and published the Mille Lacs Messenger in Isle, MN since 1975.
Today the Aitkin Independent Age publishes a weekly newspaper, a weekly shopper - the Bargain Hunter, and has a job printing division.
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