Staff writer
E.W. Hoch, editor of the Marion County Record from 1874 to 1909, was governor of Kansas when John Stanton was the state architect.
Stanton came to Kansas in 1887 to join a leading architectural firm. Several years later, he became a partner in a firm named Haskell & Stanton.
In 1895, Stanton was appointed superintendent and assistant architect of the Capitol building. In 1899, he became state architect. He is credited with designing the Rotunda of the State Capitol, which was completed in 1903.
Hoch and Stanton left their respective offices in 1909, and Stanton designed a new newspaper office for Hoch in Marion.
Stanton also designed buildings for the University of Kansas and Kansas State University as well as other public institutions.
In October 1909, groundbreaking took place for the new two-story, 35-by-65-foot brick building across from the new Marion County Courthouse on South Third Street.
The newspaper originated on the second floor of the Costello building at the corner of Main and South Second Streets. Jack Costello reportedly built the second stone building in Marion in 1868. It was stocked with goods and named “The Everything Store.” That building was torn down several years ago.
The newspaper, known as Western News, began publishing in Marion in 1870.
By 1871, the newspaper had moved across the street. It’s name was changed to Marion County Record.
In April 1876, after young E. W. Hoch purchased the newspaper, Hoch purchased the second story of the T.T. Davis building at 210 E. Main (now Flint Hills Gold).
According to a history of the newspaper, written in 1944 by city librarian Lucy Burkholder, Hoch already had plans for “a brown-stone-front palace printing establishment which the Record proposes to occupy sometime.”
Hoch soon took over the entire Davis building. It wasn’t until 1910 that his dream of a “palace printing establishment” came true.
The second story hosted various occupants throughout the years, including Judge John Greer and John Riddle, manager of Riddle Quarries.
Hannaford Abstract and Title Co. occupied the second floor for several years. In 1962, Bud Hannaford joined his mother, Norma, in operating the company.
He remembers the night the former Duckwall’s Store/Case Insurance building burned down in late December 1968. It was 10 degrees below zero and there was a strong north wind. Debris from the fire was blowing over the Record building.
“We removed some items,” Hannaford said. “We thought the whole town was going to burn down.”
A tornado that swept across Marion in March 1970 broke out windows on the second story and damaged the roof of the Record building.
Hannaford Abstract Co. moved to Main Street later that year into a new building shared with Case and Son Insurance.
A metal building was added to the Record building in the 1960s. It provided room for storing newsprint and office supplies, as well as for typesetting machines, linotype machines, and printing presses.
With advancement of digital technology in the 1980s, the linotypes were retired. Newspapers now are produced digitally in the office using computers. Digital cameras have made the dark room obsolete.
The back addition is used mainly for storage and assembling mail deliveries and print orders.