Berne Witness Company (Berne, Indiana, USA)
Scan courtesy Mennonite Church USA Archives-Goshen X-31.1, Box 17/7
The first newspaper venture at Berne, Indiana, was instituted by a Mennonite enterpriser, Fred Rohrer. Having learned the printer's trade at college, he returned to Berne in 1896, purchased equipment costing less than $600.00, and launched the Berne Witness. As an aggressive editor Mr. Rohrer led the legal battle which closed the Berne saloons in 1906. By 1904 the Witness Company was printing ten publications, mainly Mennonite periodicals for the Mennonite Book Concern, the publication agency of the General Conference Mennonite Church. The Witness Company, however, was never a conference institution. Incorporated in 1906, the firm was long under the management of Clifton H. Sprunger, who died in 1952. Employing 25 persons, the firm continued to publish the Berne Witness as a triweekly and did much job printing for both Mennonite and non-Mennonite groups.
The Witness merged with the Adams County Sun in 1974. The Berne Tri-Weekly News was still published in 2006.
Bibliography
Berne Witness 8, No. 42 (22 January 1904): 1.
Berne Witness. Tenth Anniversary Souvenir Edition (1906): 72 f.
Berne Witness. Thirtieth Anniversary Souvenir Edition (1926): 53-55.
Lehman, L. C. "The Economic Development of the Mennonite Community at Berne, Indiana." MA dissertation, Ohio State University, 1947.
Additional Information
Berne Tri-Weekly News website
| Author(s) | Leland C Lehman |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1953 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Lehman, Leland C. "Berne Witness Company (Berne, Indiana, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Berne_Witness_Company_(Berne,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=104571.
APA style
Lehman, Leland C. (1953). Berne Witness Company (Berne, Indiana, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Berne_Witness_Company_(Berne,_Indiana,_USA)&oldid=104571.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 299. All rights reserved.
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