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THE FIRST CENTURY The Independent over the years Daniel Ritz Sr. ...first Ritz with Independent 100 1878-1978 NEW HAMBURG INDEPENDENT INDEPENDENT PRINTING SHOP — About 1896, the Independent and Volksblatt newspapers were being printed in the building now identified as 88 Huron Street. Front row, left to right, are Daniel Ritz Sr., Rev. Berthold Mueller, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, for whom the printers had been producing a church newspaper; Ferdinand Meier; Dan Ritz Jr., who later became clerk of the village of New Hamburg; and Walter Lattimer, an apprentice in the print shop. Standing on the steps at the rear are Miss Clara Ritz (later Mrs. Albert Gentz); Miss Tillie Ritz; both of whom set type by hand for the newspapers; Michael Spill, among whose duties was to crank the press by hand before steam power was used to power it; and Otto Pressprich who provided edi- The independent's little - known facts ne facts about I The following facts about the New Hamburg Independent came about as a result of a quick search through the newspaper's files. - the Independent was originally published on Fridays. - the oldest paper dates back to 1909 and Daniel Ritz was the publisher then. - the Independent originally was a broadsheet newspaper with a total of eight pages. - a picture of the New Hamburg public school ran on page 1 of the August 20 edition in 1909. - the Independent offered subscriptions for itself and a Toronto weekly for four months at the price of 50 cents. - the first known full-page ad was on July 24, 1914. It advertised a superior cream separator by the Raymond Manufacturing Co. of Guelph Ltd. - a one-year subscription in 1916 was one dollar. - on September 21. 1917 Daniel Ritz's name was removed from the paper as being publisher and editor. A short time later it was changed to read the Ritz Bros. - in the 1920's a one-year subscription went from a dollar to a $1.50. - in the 1950's more local photos started to appear in the paper. -a one-year subscrption was raised in the 1950's to two dollars. - photo coverage increased greatly in the '60s. - in 1963 the paper changed its publishing date and started to come out on Thursdays. - in 1963 the paper went from broadsheet to tabloid. - on August 29, 1963 the Independent ran off 3200 copies in a special fall fair edition. An article in the paper noted that the amount of newsprint used in that issue, if spread out. would co'veV about 12 acres. - the paper cost five cents a copy in 1963 and seven cents a copy in 1964. - the publication date was changed to Friday in 1967. - Ernie Ritz's name appeared as editor in 1967. 1967 the Independent office was moved from Peel street to Huron Street. - September 13. 1967 marked the largest issue of the paper to that time with a total of 36 pages contained in two sections. -Ernie Ritz left the paper in September of 1968. - Baulk publishing was changed to Fairway Press on February 5,1969. - the paper used color almost every week starting in 1971. a one-year subscription in 1964 was three dollars, -color was first used in the Independent on June 30, 1966 when it published a reproduction of the new Canadian Flag. Needless to say the color used was red. - in January, 1967 the paper was taken over by Baulk publishers, a division of the Kitchener-Waterloo Record Ltd.