Whiting’s Newspaper History
From the Congregationalist to the WRite Stuff
John Hmurovic
June 2026
There are easier places than Whiting to make money in the newspaper business. Many have tried, many made a living out of it, and many have failed. Despite the struggles, Whiting has a rich newspaper history, thanks to a long line of journalists who have worked here.
It started with a minister. In 1890, less than a year after Standard Oil built its Whiting Refinery, Rev. David Hohman of the Plymouth Congregational Church felt he needed a way to let his congregation know what was going on, not only with their church but also with the rapidly growing community of Whiting. He bought a few fonts of type and an old printing press and published a paper he called The Congregationalist.
Whiting’s first newspaper was a success. Readership expanded beyond Rev. Hohman’s congregation, and in January 1891 he changed the name to the Whiting News.
But Rev. Hohman was a man of God first, a journalist second, and when his church wanted him to move to another city, he needed to sell the paper. The buyer was real estate dealer James G. Davidson. Davidson was a businessman, and he saw the newspaper as a way to promote his real estate business. What he didn’t know, however, was how to run a newspaper.
Henry S. Davidson was a Whiting newspaper pioneer with the Whiting News, but he is better known in Whiting history as one of the most successful early real estate agents. Davidson Place, a Whiting street, still bears his name. He also played a key role in the development of the Water Gardens neighborhood. Learn more here.
Whiting at the time had only three thousand people. Davidson wanted to make a big splash, so he started by printing ten thousand copies of the Whiting News. He quickly ran into money problems, so by June 1891 he sold the newspaper to his brother, Henry S. Davidson.
Henry got the business in shape, and if there was a Whiting Newspaper Hall-of-Fame he would deserve a plaque on the wall for the way he handled a problem in 1894. That year, there was a major labor dispute, the Pullman Strike. Workers struck against the Pullman Company’s railcar factory in Chicago and for more than two months they shut down freight and passenger trains in many parts of the country, in an era when railroads were the major means of moving people and products.
The number of items that didn’t get delivered because of the strike was huge, but the one which mattered the most to Davidson and the Whiting News was newsprint, the paper he needed to print the publication. Without newsprint there would be no newspaper. Davidson, however, came up with a solution. He had access to some wallpaper. The July 6, 1894 issue of the Whiting News was a limited edition, because it was printed on the back of wallpaper.
Besides starting the Whiting Democrat newspapers, Ulysses Grant Swartz wrote a four-part history of early Whiting that appeared in the Stanolind Record, a magazine for Standard Oil employees. He had an active life in the community, which you can learn more about here.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries newspapers were highly politically partisan. The Whiting News was a Republican newspaper. In 1894, a competitor emerged, called the Whiting Democrat. It wasn’t the first competitor to the News. In 1892, the Whiting Standard appeared, published by Edwin S. Gilbert and edited by Edward A. Gowe. Within a short time, they closed their shop and sold their printing equipment to Davidson at the Whiting News.
Davidson wasn’t so lucky with the Whiting Democrat, because it was run by the very competent Ulysses Grant Swartz. Swartz entered the newspaper business on a mission. Whiting was under political attack from Hammond. At that time, Whiting was just an unincorporated part of Lake County. It had no town or city government, but it did have a huge oil refinery that paid taxes. Hammond city officials wanted that tax money for their treasury. They made an aggressive move to make Whiting a part of Hammond. Swartz felt that the Whiting News welcomed Hammond’s takeover, while he felt the people of Whiting needed to put up a fight.
In the late 18th century, many newspapers did not have the equipment to produce anything but the simplest ad for local merchants. They were able to
The two newspapers battled it out on their pages. Thanks in part to the push that Swartz provided through the Whiting Democrat, Whiting incorporated as a town, defending itself from a Hammond takeover. Hammond did not walk away from its expansion campaign empty handed. Besides Whiting, it wanted to take over another unincorporated area that provided access to Lake Michigan. It gobbled up Robertsdale.
In 1895, Henry Davidson wanted out of his role with the Whiting News. He sold the newspaper back to his brother, James Davidson.
James was a busy man and was not fully committed to the newspaper business. If he had other things to do the News just didn’t get published that week. Over at the Democrat, Editor U.G. Swartz was also running into time problems. Even before he started the newspaper he had a job at the refinery. By 1896, Standard Oil had offered him new opportunities that appealed to him. At around the same time he was appointed to the job of postmaster in Whiting. It was all too much for Swartz. He sold the Whiting Democrat. William Ingham was the new owner.