Click on the image for a larger version.
St. Tammany Parish and the Covington area in particular have been served throughout the years by a host of newspapers.
From the earliest times in the parish history, the parish has been covered by New Orleans newspapers, state newspapers and a number of local enterprises each of which knew that Covington was a special place of activity where much of the commerce and industry was going on.
One of the first newspapers to serve the area was the New Orleans Argus, owned and edited by Manuel Crugat in the year 1827. News of St. Tammany often graced its pages, since the Ozone Belt was considered a resort by many New Orleanians at that time.
The Louisiana Advertiser served the area from 1823 to 1832, and the Louisiana Advocate began in 1852 with Joseph D. Davenport serving as editor with particular interest in St. Tammany and Covington.
The New Orleans Bee, a French newspaper, circulated around the year 1858.
In 1834, a newspaper called the Chronicle contained some notices of St. Tammany, printed in both English and French.
In 1834, a newspaper called the Chronicle contained some notices of St. Tammany, printed in both English and French.
In 1834, a New Orleans paper called the Commercial Bulletin was also making the rounds in St. Tammany Parish.
From 1818 to 1824, the Louisiana Courrier was a somewhat popular newspaper, while in 1860, a New Orleans paper called the Crescent was available in the parish.
Other newspapers being printed at that time with occasional mention of St. Tammany were the Louisiana Gazette, 1818 through 1824, The New Orleans Patriot, 1881. Larua Web Richards, editor and proprietor and the Southern Sentinel, a weekly published in Iberville Parish around 1856.
The Republican Vindicator, Mandeville, LA 1870
Other notable newspapers serving St. Tammany Parish included the Mercantile Advertiser out of New Orleans in 1829 through 1834, The True American from 1835 to 1836, The True Delta in 1858 and the Republican Vindicator in 1869. The Weekly Wanderer owned by Matthew J. Scott in 1861 and the Weekly Delta out of New Orleans in 1848.
The Covington Daily News of 1909
Some of the publications I have seen over the past 40 years in St. Tammany Parish have been the Daily Sentry News (Slidell), the St. Tammany Tribune, the Slidell Times, Pathways Magazine (Covington), Accolades Magazine (Slidell), Tammany Touch Magazine, Inside Northside Magazine, Greater Covington Chamber of Commerce Magazine, St. Tammany Guide, St. Tammany News, St. Tammany Banner (which merged with the News to become the St. Tammany News-Banner), The Mandeville Bantam (which became the Mandeville Banner), the Northlake Sunday News, St. Tammany West, The Slidell Independent Newspaper, The Abita Springs Gazette, and The St. Tammany Farmer Newspaper (Covington). I may have missed a few, but I hope not.
The Abita Springs Gazette 1986
The Northlake Sunday News (1973) in the 700 block of East Boston Street in Covington
During the course of my news media career, I have served as editor of the Slidell Sentry News (before it became a daily), the sports editor of the Slidell Times (while someone else was on vacation), the associate editor of the Covington Daily News and the Covington Sunday News, the editor of the Mandeville Banner (before it merged with the St. Tammany News), the editor of the St. Tammany Farmer, editor of the chamber of commerce magazine (two or three times). I also worked with Pathways and Accolade magazines, the ones put out by Daniel Culpepper.
Click on the image above for a larger, more readable version.
The News Banner and Sentry News
According to the Slidell Sentry News website, its replacement publication, the St. Tammany News, was born when Hurricane Katrina blew through the Gulf Coast region on Aug. 29, 2005.
"The staffs of the News Banner and Slidell Sentry-News came together out of necessity, as the storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain pushed flood waters through the Sentry’s first floor and left the building, as well as much of the city, in ruin.
But as days turned into weeks the papers remained as one, continuing to produce a quality community newspaper in a parish that not only suffered a major hit by Katrina but had become home to tens of thousands of new residents, displaced from their homes in other hard-hit areas.
The newspaper’s first edition after the storm – a free, eight-page section with no advertising – hit the streets Sept. 6.
Just a month after the storm St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis was interviewed in Covington by Today Show anchor Matt Lauer, and he was asked at what point did he feel his community was back and would be successful in its rebuilding process.”The day the local newspaper printed its first edition,” he replied without hesitation.
The St. Tammany News, born from tragedy, was a voice for the parish during the crisis and remained a viable part of the community for years to come."
St. Tammany West newspaper, edited by Kevin Chiri began in 2013 and ended publication in 2018. In his final comments on the last day, Chiri wrote how the lack of advertising sales people in western St. Tammany led to its demise.
Chiri owns and publishes The Slidell Independent that covers the east side of the parish, and started Tammany West, along with a partner, after the St. Tammany News closed down in February, 2013.
“The Slidell Independent is a very successful paper since myself and my small staff have been able to put our main attentions there,” he said. “We hoped to do the same with Tammany West, but were not able to hire the sales help to do so.”
“I believe there is a long future ahead for community newspapers and I’m sorry we were not able to find the staff to make Tammany West work,” he added.
The Tammany West newspapers website version is still available as a website at http://tammanywest.com/ although it has not been updated in years.
Magazines
There are currently quite a few specialty magazines being published in the area, which include Sophisticated Woman, and Edge of the Lake.
See also: Mandeville Bantam Newspaper
See also; St. Tammany Farmer Newspaper
See also: The Covington Daily News 1909
See also: WARB Memories
