Dover Rekindles News Legacy

The new headquarters is once again ‘making news’ – for the first time in more than a century.

By Linda Mullin/Dover Historical Society

The Dover Area Historical Society welcomes DOVERNOW, the new magazine located at 7 North Sussex Street. We are proud to welcome it back. Yes, you read that right! We are proud to welcome the return of a news publication to the area.

Dover has a long history of news publications, at least 14. Many of you may remember some of them. The new home of DOVERNOW was once home to The Iron Era. Founded by Benjamin Vogt, The Iron Era was one of Dover’s first and most successful newspapers. It is believed to have first been published in 1870. The earliest available issue, archived online at the Rockaway Township Library, is dated Jan. 27, 1872.

The book “Dover Dates, Dover’s Two Hundredth Anniversary Celebration,” by Charles D. Platt, captures the town’s evolution, including its newspapers. In it, Harry R. Gill, owner/publisher of The Daily Advance, said John S. Gibson, editor of The Iron Era, “was once the best newspaperman in New Jersey.

IRON ERA ROOTS

The Era, as town residents called it, was published weekly on Saturdays until 1907, when it was then published on Fridays. It provided an interesting look at the town’s weekly life—news about church life, mining, mills, railroad, and agricultural issues. It often called for civic improvements, such as a fire department, a dog pound, waterworks, new sidewalks and streets, school expansion, and a new train depot. It also frequently printed literary works.

In 1882, The Era moved its offices and printing plant next to the Richards Building at the corner of Blackwell and Sussex Streets, remaining there until at least 1901. The Era ran until 1914, when it was absorbed by Harry R. Gill, owner/publisher of the Daily Advance.

Some papers had long, distinguished histories. Others came and went in the blink of an eye. Here are some of the papers that were in print only a few years before being absorbed by other publications.

The Dover Enterprise was the first paper in town. It was first published on April 1, 1869, published by Edward L. Dickerson and Frank N. Lindsley in the Dickerson building on East Blackwell Street. It printed weekly until June 1, 1870, when it was taken over by W.J. Bruce, who changed the name to The Dover Mail.

In 1875, the Dover Index was founded by Francis F. Hummel and Lorenzo D. Tillyer to fill the void when the Dover Mail ceased publishing.

Some papers during this period had a political slant. The Era was the Republican voice, while the Index represented the Democratic voice.

The Morris County Journal, which started in 1890, was one of the few prohibition papers in New Jersey. The first editor was James S. Bradbrook, a Free Methodist preacher, who initially published the Journal in the Alexander Sighton Building, before printing moved to Sandford Street. The paper was then reorganized as the Morris Journal, which was then absorbed into The Iron Era.

Here are some highlights from this once-thriving media metropolis:

• Gill founded the Dover Advance in 1903. Each issue sold for two cents. At a foreclosure sale in May 1914, he bought The Era and its plant and absorbed it into the Dover Advance.

In the book, My Dover - A Memoir, Robert T. Kelly shared what it was like being a Dover Advance boy in the 1930s:

“This was the first business experience for many Dover boys. They would buy papers for two cents, selling them for three cents, gambling on how many to purchase.” He would purchase the papers early in the morning before going to school, although they were not printed yet, and was given a number for his place in line when he picked up the papers later that day. Kelly said he sold about 60 papers a week over the two distribution days. The 60-cent profit allowed him to enjoy “three movies and a couple of candy bars at the Playhouse.”

• A quote from Harry R. Gill, founder of the Dover Advance, wrote “We have been told that ‘a man is known by the company he keeps,’ and in a great measure, we have come to learn that a town is judged by the newspapers it supports.”

THE STORY OF MILLER ROFF

A feature article in the Sunday edition of the Daily Advance on Nov. 26, 1978, captured the memories of Miller Roff, a lifetime resident of Dover. At the time of the interview, the 85-year-old said, “I think I’m the oldest living native of Dover.”

Roff started his newspaper career in 1908. He worked his way up from a “printer’s devil”—another term for a handyman—to editor of the Dover Advance and other local papers. He said the paper usually had only light news but gained wider attention after its reporting on the devastating 1926 explosion at Picatinny Arsenal.

“The Advance was the first one to get that printed,” Roff said. “You see, I was a representative of the Associated Press and I called the news in. The Newark News ran a little thing because they were already printing.”

Roff said he left his job at the Daily Advance, which paid $3 a week, to work for the Dover Index and The Era. Roff, who also worked on other Lakeland area newspapers, stated proudly, “I was the only editor in New Jersey without a high school diploma.”

REPRESENTING A NEW GENERATION

The first Spanish newspaper published in Dover was The Town News/El Voceror del Pueblo. It was published by Francisco de Jesús, Javier Marín, Enrique Roibal and Oscar Alcarón. Virginian Caceres served as editor. El Voceror was published for four or five months. Carlos Caprioli took over the publication when it folded, renaming it Vocero Latino. The newspaper “set out to tell the stories of the Hispanic immigrants and keep them in touch with news from their many homelands,” Caprioli said.

Vocero Latino started as a free newsletter with a circulation of 5,000 and progressed to a monthly newspaper with a circulation of 10,000. Caprioli stated, “I’m trying to publish a Latin American newspaper.” As the name says, it’s Latino. “It belongs to the whole Latino population.” The publication was in circulation for five years and filled a need in the Dover community. Additional Spanish newspapers followed: Nuestra Communicad (2005-2006) and Latino News (2006-2010).

WELCOME TO THE NEWCOMER

We welcome DOVERNOW, Dover’s newest publication, to the area’s long history of publications.

If you’re interested in going back in time, the Dover Free Public Library has many digitized copies of the Dover Advance.