One hundred and twenty-four years ago, W.C. Simons arrived in Lawrence to start a newspaper.

There already were seven other papers in Lawrence, plus several at the university, but he thought Lawrence looked like a town with a promising future. He was a single 19-year-old, who had been schooled by his widowed mother in a sod house in Hodgeman County.

He arrived in Lawrence on a Saturday evening and later recalled, “That December 14th day of 1891, it was raining as it has been today, but instead of a town with wide, paved streets, brilliantly lighted and festooned with Christmas decorations, the streets were a sea of mud, lighted only by a faint and flickering single gas light at each street intersection with burning gasoline, or kerosene, flares in front a few enterprising stores.”

According to various sources, the Journal-World represents the merger or purchase of 40 newspapers, and there have been at least 104 newspapers published in Lawrence since the city was founded in 1854. The first paper in Lawrence, the Herald of Freedom, was dated Oct. 21, 1854, but it was printed in Conneautville, Pa., and 21,000 copies were packed and sent to Lawrence.

The population of Lawrence in 1891 was estimated at 9,500, with 630 students and 44 faculty members at Kansas University.

There have been tremendous changes in both Lawrence and the newspaper business during the past 124 years, and it is only natural to wonder what the city and university might look like 124 years from now, in 2140. Or what is our country going to look like in 124 years? What kind of a government will we have, and how many freedoms will have been canceled or compromised?

What would those living in Lawrence in 1891 think of the rules, restrictions and government controls that govern daily life in America today? For example, will there be a free press a hundred or more years from now?

Obviously, this writer is biased, but the importance of a free press cannot be overemphasized. Unfortunately, among the gradual changes in the newspaper business over the years have been a taming of editorial voices, an emphasis on the bottom line rather than operating a vigorous newsroom, and shrinking numbers of those who enjoy reading or rely on newspapers to report what is going on in cities, counties, states and our nation. Also government offices, at all levels, continue to try to control or limit what the public knows.

This writer believes the newspaper’s role is to report and keep the public informed about what is going on in City Hall, school boards, law enforcement offices, state capitols, higher education leadership, city commissions and many other offices and activities.

A newspaper should not operate with the idea of making people feel bad, but it should have the courage to report when there are poor and bad performances.

Who is going to let the public know how both public and private offices and businesses, and elected officials are operating if there is no newspaper? Other information businesses can provide relatively short reports, but not with the depth and sustained efforts of a newspaper. Consider how boards, organizations and government units might operate if they knew no one was looking over their shoulders.

This country needs strong newspapers, more so today than perhaps at any other time. The news must be presented accurately and honestly, with opinions expressed on editorial pages or in columns identified as opinion.

Again, there have been tremendous changes in the newspaper business, as well as in Lawrence, our lifestyle, government and nation over the past 124 years. Our forefathers would be shocked to look in on what is going on today, and it is almost impossible to picture what this nation or the world will look like 100 years from now.

Hopefully, there will be newspapers, or some independent non-government source of information, telling citizens the truth about the performance of public officeholders, holding both private and public individuals responsible for their actions.

It’s been a grand experience for all those, past and present, who have been associated with the Journal-World since 1891.