From its first printing 80 years ago as The Clover Herald, this community newspaper has become a source of pride and respect for the people of the community it serves. The main focus of this weekly is and has always been to provide its readers with a look at the "goings on" in and around Clover.
Early on, the newspaper quickly became known as a ready source of information and facts concerning town meetings, local people and events. Through the years, The Clover Herald developed a strong bond of loyalty with its readers, many of whom had subscribed to the paper for years.
As the town changed over the years, so did the newspaper. However, the main objective of the paper remained the same — to provide the community with information about local events, schools and advertisements.
With the majority of the content of The Clover Herald not straying too far from the environs of Clover, the newspaper was dedicated to serving its readers a large slice of community news each week. With a keen sense of responsibility in reporting the facts about the community it served, The Clover Herald became the "go-to" source for its readers when they needed community news. Accuracy, good reporting and a varied content were trademarks of the newspaper. A local school board member paid the newspaper the ultimate accolade some years ago when he announced at a meeting, "If you see it in The Clover Herald, then it's so."
Over the years, often with a one to two man staff, The Clover Herald continued to take pride in its past and looked forward to providing many more years of "good community newspapering" to its readers.
The weekly newspaper, The Clover Herald, was first printed under that masthead in 1929. However, the paper had its beginnings much earlier with such names as The Clover Messenger and The Palmetto Post.
A look at the history of the Clover publication shows that in 1917, William A. Westmoreland and C. W. "Buck" Wallace set up a printing shop in an old wooden building on Clover's Main Street. The two men started the town's first real newspaper, The Clover Messenger.
By 1925, William Westmoreland's son, D. A., had taken over the business. He changed the name of the newspaper to The Palmetto Post. The newspaper contained from four to six pages in its regular publications and occasionally would print special sections with more pages. "The Post," as it would come to be known, printed community news, social news, area news, and for the first time, some national news. It was said that as editor, D. A. Westmoreland would subscribe to newspapers from all over the state to keep up with news outside the Clover area.
The paper continued as The Palmetto Post until 1928 when editor Westmoreland moved from Clover to Durham, N.C. Albert Sweat served as editor in the absence of Westmoreland. In 1929, the paper was purchased by A. W. Huckle who changed the name of the publication to The Clover Herald.
On Feb. 6, 1930, former owner and editor, D. A. Westmoreland returned and bought the paper back. He served as its editor for about another year before selling the paper to O. Frank Thornton, who edited the paper until he was named Secretary of State for South Carolina. W. S Mason served as editor from Jan. 1, 1951 until June 28, 1951, when Thornton sold the paper to Mrs. Charles Drumheller.
On Dec. 1, 1953, James H. Owen purchased The Clover Herald from Mrs. Drumheller. Owen served as the paper's editor and publisher until 1973. At that time, Owen named Mike Faulkenberry as editor of the paper. Owen remained as publisher until he retired in 1990.
During the 1980's, The Clover Herald saw several changes in ownership. The paper was bought by the Patrick Family, then owners of The Rock Hill Herald, in the early 1980s only to be purchased several years later by the Daniels Family of The Raleigh News & Observer. In the late 1980s, the paper was bought by McClatchy Newspapers which continues ownership today.
It is interesting to note that in 1960, The Clover Herald and The Yorkville Enquirer, the weekly publication for nearby York, S.C., merged to become sister newspapers. The merger resulted in the formation of Carolina Newspapers, a company which existed for several years after the McClatchy purchase.
In 2006 McClatchy decided to combine the Clover Herald with sister paper the Yorkville Enquirer, creating the York and Clover Enquirer-Herald, where the quality and traditions first established 92 years ago when Westmoreland and Wallace opened Clover’s first paper. Today the Enquirer-Herald is published every Thursday and covers the “goings on” of all of western York County. Each week it is printed on the presses at the Charlotte Observer, which joined the McClatchy family in 2007.
Compiled by Mike Faulkenberry
former Planning and Design Editor
Carolina Newspapers
Edited by Jonathan Allen
Editor, York and Clover Enquirer-Herald
This story was originally published September 1, 2010 at 4:41 PM with the headline "."