Courtesy of the Winn Parish Enterprise
In 1924, a group of local businessmen and professional leaders joined together to establish the Winn Parish Enterprise. That was 100 years ago. Today, even though technology has advanced and we now have the Internet, the Enterprise is still going strong. Before the Enterprise there were several different newspapers in Winn Parish. The most complete history of earlier Winn papers comes from an item in the January 17, 1930 issue of the Winnfield News-American, most of it supplied by a W.L. Smylie.
The Southern Sentinel, he wrote, was started in 1859, before the Civil War, and was the first newspaper in Winn Parish. It was suspended during the war but revived afterward for a short period of time and was passed into the hands of O.M. Grisham in 1904.
Within a year Major Will A. Strong of Monroe bought the office and managed the publication of the paper. He published it until his death in 1910.
Throughout the next several years, the Sentinel would be passed through several different hands.
A new publication, the Winn Parish Enterprise, was founded in 1924 with Mr. and Mrs. Clay Riser as publishers. Following the death of Mr. Riser in 1936 the paper continued by Mrs. Riser and her daughters, Miss Mary Riser and Miss Ruth Riser. Mrs. Riser passed away in 1946. Members of the Riser family continued to carry the torch and in 1952, the publishers of the Winn Parish Enterprise purchased another local paper, the Winnfield News-American.
The Enterprise and News-American were sold by the Winn Parish Printing Co., Inc. in 1953 to Harry Cates, an Oklahoma publisher who operated the paper for 1 ½ years.
In 1978, the Enterprise was purchased by the Natchitoches Times, which has maintained the tradition of hometown coverage by this paper.
The locations have changed, but the integrity of the newspaper remains the same. The Enterprise first entered at the local post office on July 17, 1924. After 7 years at that location, the paper moved into the Woodmen of the World building on Court Street. It remained at that location until 1965 when it moved to Long and Lafayette Street. The current location of the Enterprise is 500 E Main Street.
Throughout the years there have been many changes in the process of putting together a newspaper. For many years, the paper was printed on a hand-fed press. A larger press was purchased in 1947 that was able to print up to 8 pages at a time, folding them in the same operation. Today, the Enterprise is printed at the Natchitoches Times each week where the printing press is located, and delivered here to Winn.
The goal to serve the people of Winn Parish is still the aim today as it has been from the beginning. 100 years later, the Winn Parish Enterprise strives to serve as a news and advertising medium.
