The History of The Huntsville Item
For more than 175 years, The Huntsville Item has chronicled the events, people, and changes shaping Walker County. This work was first published by George Robinson, a Liverpool native who moved to Texas and worked as a printer for The Galveston News. By 1846, Robinson moved to Huntsville, a growing town with newly created schools, prisons, and religious institutions. On August 20, 1850, Robinson published the first edition of The Huntsville Item. [1]
During this pivotal era of Huntsville and other growing towns, local newspapers served an essential role in developing Texan communities. Papers like The Item provided residents with news about politics, land sales, business advertisements, and legal notices, as well as reporting on local social events. In frontier towns where communication networks were still developing, newspapers connected the community and the wider Walker County region and beyond. [2]
Like many nineteenth-century newspapers, The Item faced numerous hardships. These included at least five fires in 1878, 1884, 1892, 1902, and between 1903 and 1914. According to the Texas Landowners Association, fires represented “an annual summer event in the western region of the Edwards Plateau.” Throughout the Texas "Hill Country,” farmers frequently burned old grass to encourage new growth for cattle, which contributed to the prevalence of fires. [3]
There were two occasions when The Item's consistent publication temporarily ceased. In 1861, Robinson enlisted in the Confederate military during the Civil War. He still managed to issue The Item while stationed at Camp San Jacinto as a private in Company B, Infantry, 17th Brigade, writing a handful of articles on the front and back of single sheets. After six months of service, Confederate officials furloughed Robinson indefinitely so that he could resume publication of the newspaper. Furthermore, from 1867 to 1869, the Item’s office remained shuttered as Huntsville residents dealt with an outbreak of yellow fever. [4]
In 1884, Robinson passed off the publication of The Item to his youngest son, Fred Robinson. Fred relocated The Item’s printing but could not escape fire on two more occasions. He then sold the Saturday publishing paper to J.A. Palmer, who merged it with the Huntsville Post for a short period. The newspaper underwent several changes in ownership and name before returning to the title Huntsville Item under Ross Woodall in 1914. Woodall operated the paper for 29 years, until he died in 1943. The Woodall family sold the paper to Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. in 1967. Afterward, the paper passed through several additional corporate owners. Since 1999, Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc., has operated The Item. [5]
Today, The Huntsville Item operates as a paid, two-day-a-week morning newspaper, with its office located near historic downtown Huntsville. It covers all of Walker County, with headlines ranging from high school sports to community achievements. As of March 2026, Traci Gallin serves as publisher. The Huntsville Item remains the second-oldest newspaper from Huntsville, Texas, preceded only by The Montgomery Patriot, which was first published in May 1845. [6]
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