100 YEARS OF ALL THE NEWS FIT TO PRINT
Times Marks Banner Year With Special Edition
her famous aunt and newspaper publisher, Cuenta D’Arnet.
Winter came a bit colder than usual to the lower Sassagoula in 1893. The wind was blustier. The rain was brisker. But no inclement weather was about to stop Wilma Tally Neusprint from fulfilling the dream she’d planned so long.
The niece of world-renowned Port Orleans newspaper editor Elizabeth Cuenta D’Arnet, creator of the Sassagouls Sentinel, Wilma worked side-by-side with her aunt for nearly fifteen years until she was ready to start a publication of her own.
Encouraged by Aunt Elizabeth, who in fact presented Wilma with an aged but still serviceable printing press. she set out northward to Dixie Landings. Within a month she had set up shop and was ready to roll the press to print Issue #1 of The Sassagoula Times. The date: January 2, 1893.
Handling the local reporting chores herself – Wilma became instantly popular among Dixie Landings’ residents. The town now had a direct link to the outside world and soon everyone in Dixie Landings wanted a subscription to the Times.
What’s more, the paper provided a new line of work including apprenticeships, printers and yes, even delivery boys (and girls!). The Times quickly established journalism as a respected vocation in the area... and Dixie Landings soon gained the cultural diversity enjoyed here to this day.
This special 100th anniversary issue of The Sassagoula Times – which, incidentally, has been printed every day without fail since the first copy rolled off that old press – goes back in time to give you, our readers, a peek at the very history of how Dixie Landings came to be and what a special place it truly is.
