Last week’s Littleton Independent carried a Page 1 story: The
local newspaper, together with its sister titles, relocated to
newer, more efficient, more centrally located offices at I-25 and
Lincoln. Although the story was full of positive energy and
relentless good cheer, it left me feeling sad.
The Independent has left Littleton’s Main Street for the first
time since its founding 122 years ago. The paper actually began
life in the basement of the Harwood Inn, just south of Main Street.
Richard Little, town founder, bought the first subscription to the
Littleton Gazette, which would soon become the Independent.
I edited Littleton’s paper from 1966 until 1981. Before and
during most of those years, the newspaper’s life was interwoven
with that of the town, its families and its traditional Main
Street. My mentor, Houstoun Waring, walked down the street to his
office, pausing to chat with shop owners. Our reporters gathered
news from Main Street sources — the coffee crowd at the round table
in Abe’s Café; the Jet Bar and Lounge, where city council members
gathered for conversation after the official meetings; Valore
Hardware, run by three successive generations of the Valore family;
and Veto’s Shoe Repair, whose customers could count on a cheerful
insult from Veto LaRocco (succeeded by son Tony and grandson
Steve).
By the time I left the paper, the newspaper business had
changed, not only in Littleton, but across the nation and beyond.
We sold the Independent to a high-flying publisher who envisioned
joining a far larger media world than the old farming community of
Littleton. Larger newspaper chains succeeded him. The town itself
was changing. Thousands of new residents served by the Littleton
post office and Littleton school district knew nothing of historic
Main Street.
Nostalgia has not blinded me to the changes that have occurred
and will continue to occur. If I were running the paper as it now
exists, I might also decide to move to the anonymous ’burbs. Even
so, when the company closed its Main Street office this week,
something valuable died. One more link in the chain of life between
the newspaper and its community is gone. I suspect that I will not
be the only old-timer who feels the loss.
Garrett W. Ray
Wind Crest, Littleton
