Prairie Beacon

City: Paris

County: Edgar County

State: Illinois

Jacob Harding founded the Prairie Beacon in 1848. Harding eventually sold the paper to Solomon L. Spink, who in turn later sold it to William Moore. In 1864, Moore purchased the Valley Blade and merged it with the Prairie Beacon to create the Prairie Beacon and Valley Blade.

Franklin William Scott, Newspapers and Periodicals of Illinois, 1814-1879, vol. 6 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1910), 274; William H. Perrin, The History of Edgar County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 336; D. W. Lusk, Politics and Politicians: A Succinct History of the Politics of Illinois from 1856 to 1884 (Springfield: H. W. Rokker, 1884), 168.