Portal to Texas History

The Portal to Texas History is a gateway to rare, historical, and primary source materials from or about Texas. It includes Burleson's newspaper archives, with issues from the Burleson News, Burleson Dispatcher and Burleson Star. Dates range from 1926 to 2014 and all issues are keyword searchable.

About the Collection
Sometime in 1900, Burleson businessman E.M. “Good Roads” Wilson (1872-1956) began publishing The Burleson News. In 1932 Wilson sold the paper to Robert Garland Knox Deering and John Searcy, but Deering and Searcy dissolved their partnership and Deering became the sole owner in 1935. Shortly after World War II, Deering modernized the newspaper by purchasing a Model 14 Mergenthaler Linotype, which is currently on display at the Burleson Visitors Center. In 1958, the newspaper became The Burleson Dispatcher after a contest was held to rename it, and the final edition was printed on September 25, 1985.

The Burleson Star began publication in October of 1965 with Al White as publisher, who was also the publisher of the Johnson County News in Cleburne. Wayne Hutson joined him and eventually became sole owner, sending “camera ready” papers to Fort Worth for printing until 1976, when ABC Publishing Co. was formed to print the Burleson Star and other weekly newspapers in Cleburne.

The digitization of the Burleson newspapers was generously supported by the Ladd and Katherine Hancher Library Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.