J. O. York, Phil Schumacher, C. Stafford Poulter, G. L. Hamilton, Jas. G. McKay, Frank J. Schumacher, N. A. Kilburn, The Provost Publishing Co., C. A. Smith. A. A. Thoresen, William D. McKay, John R. McLaughlin, Lindsay Meiklejohn, Mr. Fullerton, Ed Holmes & Son, George S. Holmes, Ronald E. Holmes and the current editor Richard C. Holmes.
The first issue of The Provost Star was dated March 18, 1910 and a copy of that paper, though in brittle condition, still exists. In the middle of that front page that was filled with hand-set type was the understatement of the year, a single line with no more explanation other than: "The press came."
Since that time Holmes Publishing had 75 years of the paper microfilmed because of the problems of deterioration of the old pages. Another project was the compilation and printing by Holmes Publishing Co. Ltd. in 1985 of a 640 page hard cover book called "75 Years of Headlines and Halftones - The Provost Star, The Provost News." The book is filled with reproductions of front pages of the newspaper over the years. It was dedicated to the previous operators of the local newspaper and sold to the general public. Inside the front cover of each book is a different numbered Linotype slug for each of the 250 books.
After a series of owners in the early years, stability set in with the purchase of the paper by an Englishman by the name of Ed. Holmes (grandfather to the current editor Richard). Ed Holmes began his printing, writing and publishing career at age 11 in the composing room of the Bradford Daily Argus in Yorkshire, England. In the year 1900 Holmes homesteaded in the district of Assiniboia, for two years, now the province of Saskatchewan. He put up a sod shack and built a farm around it. During two years he had only the Holy Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare and could quote passages verbatim from both for the rest of his life. Since the winters on the homestead offered little in activity or income, Ed Holmes spent the winter months working for the Alemeda Dispatch and Arcola Star and later the Winnipeg Free Press where he met his wife. The young couple headed for Carlyle, to take possession of the Carlyle Herald and built it into a profitable and respected newspaper. In 1922 Holmes founded the Dauphin Progress in Manitoba. Then he took a position as city editor with the Winnipeg Free Press for four years. He then did a stint on the editorial desk in 1928 of the Regina Daily Star and later became the editor of the Regina Morning Star. He then went to the news desk of the Toronto Daily Star in 1929. About that time he felt an overwhelming desire to again run his own weekly newspaper and settled in Provost with his wife and sons. That year the Great Depression hit along with an advertisers' boycott. Advertising rates at 35 cents per column inch was considered exorbitant by the local merchants and as Ed. Holmes was a stubborn and firm man, there was no reduction in advertising rates. His philosophy on that was "I would rather play for nothing than work for nothing." And he did just that while all but one merchant running a $3.50 ad, boycotted the paper for two years. But Holmes won his point and lived to see all the merchants come back in his paper at his rates. Ed. Holmes established a lending library in The News office, possibly the first library in Provost. It was free and the books from his extensive personal library.
Sons Frank and George assisted with the business and The Provost News pioneered the use of local pictures to illustrate news items. Frank left the newspaper to work full time making professional industrial movies. In 1944 youngest son George returned from war time service and took over management of the paper when Ed. Holmes died at the age of 66 after a 55 year journalistic career. His wife Lena still came to work on paper day to operate the hand-fed folder for many years, as did George's wife, Margaret who also looked after the books.
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The News office was destroyed by fire in 1946 and a new building was erected. George was editor of The News until 1970, serving the community also as mayor, scout master, and in various other organizations and fund-raising committees as well as being involved in the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association, of which he was president. He experimented and produced offset printing in the early 1960s. His son Ron took over The News for a couple of years before joining his father in the printing operation in Medicine Hat. Ron served on the AWNA board as director for a term and though still living in Medicine Hat, is publisher of The Oyen Echo and operates Holmes Printing. Richard Holmes then became editor, a position he has held for over 28 years. Other brother Roger, meanwhile has spent his entire career in the printing and newspaper industry. He is in charge of The Wainwright Star Chronicle twice-weekly newspaper where Holmes Publishing Co. Ltd. has its central web press operations to print its own community newspapers among others. The current editor set type by hand, operated the hot metal Linotype and did his own scanning on metal plates for the letterpress Meihle that produced four tabloid pages at a time. Phototypesetting was introduced in 1979 followed by a computerized mailing list in the early 1980s. More upgrades followed over the years with the operation now producing colour pictures and separations every week using digital cameras and scanners. All pages are paginated entirely on the screen, turned into PDFs and sent to Wainwright via phone lines for automatic imaging on a high resolution imaging device for output to plates. The central plant plant was the first in Canada —weekly or daily—to use the cutting edge technology. Editor Rich Holmes has served as president of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association and has also served as an director of the association for many years. His wife, Ruth, helps out in sales and typesetting. On July 5, 2000 The Provost News celebrated its 90th anniversary with a special 188 page edition that included reproductions of dozens of front pages from the very first edition in1910 up until the year 2000. |
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