About Flesherton Advance

Flesherton Advance

The Flesherton Advance (now The Advance) is a weekly broadsheet newspaper published in tandem with the Dundalk Herald from Dundalk, Ontario, serving Grey Highlands. Founded June 1, 1881, by A.R. Fawcett — the village's only newspaper through its entire history — the paper carries the motto "Truth before favor — Principles, not men." Published in Flesherton until 1968, when it was purchased by Walter Walls of the Dundalk Herald, the paper has been produced from Dundalk ever since — the 140-year-old weekly of Grey County's highlands, now paired with its Dundalk sister, the broadsheet tradition continuing.

Overview

The Advance publishes weekly in broadsheet format from Dundalk — the Southgate township community in southern Grey County, the home of the Dundalk Herald, the town where the two papers are produced together — serving Grey Highlands: the municipality formed by the amalgamation of the former village of Flesherton, the town of Markdale, and the surrounding townships (Artemesia, Euphrasia, Osprey). The coverage spans the highlands communities: Flesherton (the former village on the Beaver River, the paper's birthplace — the community that gave the paper its name), Markdale (the municipality's largest community, the service centre), Dundalk (the publishing home, the Herald's town), and the rural townships — the farming country and the highlands, the Beaver Valley's approaches, the Niagara Escarpment's edge. The paper covers municipal affairs (the Grey Highlands council, the township meetings — the decisions on roads, services, and development), community news (the events, the agricultural fairs, the milestones, the school news), and the rural life (the farms, the churches, the community halls). Published in tandem with the Dundalk Herald — the two papers produced together from the Dundalk offices, sharing the press and the staff while serving their distinct communities — the Advance serves the readers who have taken the paper for generations: the highlands' weekly, the broadsheet tradition continuing — the paper that has served the highlands since 1881, through six ownerships, two towns, and 140 years.

History

The first issue of the Flesherton Advance was published on June 1, 1881, by A.R. Fawcett, originally of Kimberley — the newspaper office at 26 Sydenham St. in Flesherton, in the village that was then a thriving mill town on the Beaver River. Flesherton, notably, has been home to only one newspaper — the Advance, the village's sole press voice through its entire history. On July 1, 1888, the paper was purchased by Willard Hadley Thurston (also originally from Kimberley — the Kimberley men founding the highlands' press, Fawcett and Thurston, the Beaver Valley's journalists), who published from the same Sydenham Street location until approximately 1900, when he moved it to the corner of Collingwood and Peter Street. Thurston passed the editorship to his youngest son, Frank, on August 1, 1938 — the paper becoming a family enterprise, the Thurstons guiding it through the Depression, the Second World War, and the postwar years: the father-and-son press, the highlands' family newspaper — Willard and Frank Thurston, the editorship passing from father to youngest son, the family business.

On September 1, 1961, the Advance was purchased by Royden Johnston, who published it for four years until selling the paper to Godfrey Clark in 1965. Clark re-enlisted Frank Thurston as editor for two years — the old editor returning to the paper he had led for decades, the continuity preserved. In 1968, Walter Walls, owner and editor of the Dundalk Herald, purchased the paper — and the Flesherton Advance left Flesherton after 87 years: Walls continued to publish it in conjunction with the Dundalk Herald from his offices in Dundalk, an arrangement maintained by Matt Walls, the present editor of the two papers — the Walls family carrying the Advance into its second century, the tandem publication enduring for over 55 years — the 1968 arrangement still going, the Advance and the Herald together in Dundalk. The Grey Highlands Public Library has reproduced the Flesherton Advance from its earliest copies to approximately 1950 for online browsing — the 1881–1950 archive digitized from the microfilm held in local archives, the paper's first 70 years preserved and publicly accessible: the highlands' history in the Advance's pages — the 19th-century village, the 20th-century townships, the community's memory.

Coverage and Audience

The paper serves Grey Highlands: Flesherton (the birthplace — the village on the Beaver River, the community that gave the paper its name and its first 87 years), Markdale (the municipality's largest community, the service centre with the hospital), Dundalk (the publishing home, the Herald's town in Southgate), and the surrounding townships — the highlands' farming communities, the rural households, the escarpment country. The audience includes the long-time subscribers (the families who have taken the Advance for generations — the paper in the farmhouse for a century, the highlands' households reading the weekly), the farmers (the beef, dairy, and cash-crop operations of the highlands), the community organizations (the agricultural societies, the service clubs, the churches). The coverage includes municipal politics (the Grey Highlands council's decisions — the budgets, the roads, the services), community events (the fairs — the Markdale Fall Fair, the agricultural exhibitions — the fundraisers, the milestones), and the agricultural and rural news (the farm economy, the rural issues). The tandem publication with the Dundalk Herald means the two papers share production — the press, the staff, the Dundalk offices — while serving their distinct communities: the Advance for the highlands, the Herald for Dundalk and Southgate — the two papers' distinct identities within the shared operation, the communities each served by their own title.

Ownership

The Advance is owned by the Walls family — Walter Walls having purchased the paper in 1968 as owner and editor of the Dundalk Herald, with Matt Walls the present editor of the two papers. The family ownership continues the community-press tradition that has defined the Advance since 1881: the paper owned by the local publishers (the Fawcetts, the Thurstons, the Johnstons, the Clarks, the Wallses), produced in Dundalk for the highlands — the 140-year lineage of local ownership unbroken — from Fawcett to Thurston to Johnston to Clark to Walls, the highlands' press in local hands. The tandem operation — the Advance and the Herald from the one Dundalk office — gives the family papers their economies of scale: the shared production sustaining the two titles — the Dundalk press serving the highlands and Southgate, the family operation's efficiency.

Digital Presence

The Advance publishes online at heraldadvance.ca — "The Dundalk Herald & The Advance" — the digital home of the two tandem papers, the shared website serving the shared operation — heraldadvance.ca, the two papers' digital home, the tandem online as in print. The website carries the weeklies' journalism to the online readership: the highlands' residents, the former residents following home, the researchers consulting the community's news, the advertisers. The Grey Highlands Public Library's digitized archive (1881–1950) provides the historical depth: the paper's first 70 years browsable online, the 19th-century issues alongside the 20th — the highlands' history preserved in pixels as well as print — the library's digitization making the 1881 issues as accessible as today's, the archive open to all. For Grey Highlands, the paper is the community's record: founded June 1, 1881, "Truth before favor — Principles, not men," published from Dundalk since 1968 — the Flesherton Advance, now The Advance, the highlands' weekly for over 140 years — "Truth before favor," since June 1, 1881 — the Advance's motto, the highlands' creed, the paper's promise.