Did You Know...

E.C. Lowe, Publisher

One hundred years ago, Elvin Crockett “E.C.” Lowe entered the newspaper business in Blanket, Texas, at the age of 15.

He later attended Polytechnic College, now Texas Wesleyan University, where he was a member of The Philosophian Literary Society.

By 1916, he owned and operated his first newspaper, The Blanket Signal. He went on to publish papers in Frost, Milford, Italy, Albany, Eastland, Brownwood, and Fort Stockton.

When Lowe settled in Lometa in 1934, there were no paved roads, no bank, no meat processing plant, and the school building was a “disgrace.” He began campaigning for the things residents needed through his newspaper, The Lometa Reporter. Other acquisitions included an auction barn and a football field. At the time of his death, he was trying to get a medical clinic.

"Uncle Elvin"

During World War II, most of the boys he employed went off to war. He kept the paper going almost single-handedly and even published letters to and from the soldiers. It was Lowe’s way of supporting the boys he watched grow up with his sons, Ward and Charles, and who worked by his side at his newspapers. “Pictures of the Boys Start with This Issue” was a lead story in June 1942. His son, Ward, went off to war, too.

Lometa

Lowe sent Lometa’s young men in the military free subscriptions to the paper; the subscriptions were made possible by contributions from Lometa citizens. Lowe would address his letters “Dear Boys…” and sign the letters “Uncle Elvin.” The boys would write back: “Dear Mr. Lowe….” The boys thanked him and told him how much it meant to them to get The Reporter. The “Old Devil,” as Lowe often called himself in print, wasted no opportunity to support war efforts. Like other editors throughout the country, he publicized scrap metal drives (with headlines like: “Jolt ‘em with Junk from Lometa”), war bond sales, black out drills, and “What to Do in Case of an Air Raid.”

The Lampasas Dispatch

Shortly after World War II, Lowe started building on his lifelong dream of running a county-wide newspaper. He recruited three young war veterans: his son, Ward; Harold M. Anderson, who returned to Lometa after the war; and Robert O. Easton, a Californian who discovered neighboring Lampasas while training at Ft. Hood. They formed Hill Country Publishing Co., Inc. as the parent corporation of The Lampasas Dispatch - a new newspaper with an old name and the tradition of the old Lampasas Dispatch, which published from 1871-1895. The Lampasas Dispatch purchased The Lometa Reporter’s subscription list and included a section on Lometa news. The first Dispatch was published on March 6, 1947. E.C. Lowe stayed with The Reporter, while his son, Ward, became business manager, and Easton became editor of The Lampasas Dispatch.

Lowe died in Lometa, the city he called “The Garden of Eden,” a little more than three years after The Dispatch was established. Though only 58 years old, he had accomplished a lot during the previous 16 years with his Lometa Reporter, and he had lived to see both his sons enter the publishing business. Charles, born in 1932, worked his entire life in the printing and graphic arts industry. His elder son, Ward, was editor and publisher of The Dispatch for more than 20 years; Lowe’s grandsons, Fred and Jim Lowe, operated the Lampasas Dispatch Record for twenty more years.

Thanks to E.C. Lowe, The Lampasas Dispatch Record is still running strong today. Lowe’s great-grandsons are learning the business and plan on being the fourth generation of newspapermen in Texas. 

-Information from “Legacy of a Newspaper” by Jane McMillin, Special Correspondent, Lampasas Dispatch Record

-Compiled by Talitha Collins