EARLY CHARLESTON NEWSPAPER PRINTING

This is not an in depth history of Charleston Newspapers, but early newspaper printing. The men and especially the equipment that made the Charleston newspapers possible.  While we focus on the Mail, both papers used about the same equipment available at the time.

Let's start here:

The Charleston Mail on Virginia & McFarland St. Years later they will move directly across the street into a new building

The early Pressroom

Very early Linotype

The new building for the Daily Mail

Meanwhile, the Gazette was a few blocks away on Hale Street.

The Equipment

Here's how it worked:

Naturally you cant read this, so click HERE for a large image.



The machines needed to print a newspaper

Here are the early machines that were used to turn-out the newspapers at the turn of the Century.

Of course the Linotype was the most important invention in the history of printing next to movable type.

Possibly the most complicated machine ever built, the Linotype took a special kind of person to operate it.

The best video demonstrating the Linotype can be found HERE

Larger newspapers and printing shops often had rows of Linotype operators.

The noise was deafening, and so deaf people were often preferred to operate the machines.

The Charleston Newspapers used Linotype machines well into the 60s.

This is my copy of "The Tribune Book of Open Air Sports"  It was the worlds first book completely printed using a Linotype machine.

The Press

This was the latest technology in Presses for the Charleston Mail in 1914. There was nothing else like it anywhere around. It could print 24,000 newspapers in one hour. But time marches on, and by the 70s, the new Offset Presses came on the scene...

So let's take a look to see what happened on 1974 when the newest in technology finally arrived....

THE GOSS METRO PRESS

Click this link for Part 2 and the Goss Metro Press.

On to the 1911 Photos

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