By Kaylie Ractliffe and Nikki McKim
The Falls City Journal will soon have a new home on Stone Street after nearly 62 years of operation at 1810 Harlan St.
Beginning May 1, 2018, the Falls City Journal will be located at 1709 Stone St. The building formerly housed Clow Fitness, and neighbors the Schulenberg Bakery and F&M Bank. The main level of the building will be office space for the Journal staff, while the lower level will be the workspace for collating and labeling newspapers on delivery days.
In July 1956, the Journal reported that it would be moving to Harlan Street, its first relocation since 1903. The task included moving type setting machines, casting equipment, a strip-casting machine, saws, type cases and fonts and other machines and equipment; it also required the expertise of a factory specialist from Chicago to dismantle the newspaper press so that it could be moved in parts and re-assembled in the new building.
The Journal’s move to Stone Street will hardly be as tedious, as modern technology has taken the place of many machines and processes. After page design and editing is complete, the paper is now electronically sent off for printing in Mound City, Mo., and delivered back to the Journal office for collating and mailing address labeling. Now, the largest piece of equipment the Journal uses is perhaps the string-tying machine used to bundle papers before delivery to stores and the post office. Aside from that and each employee’s computer, the only other items to move will be shelving units, office furniture and an archive of physical files from before the Journal’s transition to digital filing in 2010. The decision to move was largely due to the amount of unused space in the 7,000 square-foot Harlan Street building, as well as the new ownership of the business by attorney Richard Halbert, which went into effect Sept. 1, 2017.
