Memories of The Community Post...

The Community Post was the Facebook of the 1980's for me

I don't have a Facebook account. Never have. My wife does. And about once a week I'll get on the family iPad (whenever I can find it) and tap the Facebook app to see what I've been missing. Mostly what I see are pictures. Pictures from birthday parties, anniversaries, sports pictures, etc. Not real news per se, rather limited details about small town stuff. Before I know it I've spent a half hour scrolling through Facebook. It reminds me of what I depended on for this type of "news" 30 years ago. Before Facebook. It was called The Community Post.

The Community Post is still being published today. Right there in downtown Minster. I haven't picked up the actual paper since I was a kid. But, as teenager in the 80's, I always looked forward to stopping at my grandparents house between Ft. Loramie and Minster to read their subscription. I didn't have much interest in world events or national news at that time. Heck, I didn't even care what was happening in Sidney. The Community Post was perfect for me because it had all local stuff and something that was hard to find in those days... lots and lots of pictures.

 

You could always find pictures of birthday parties in The Community 

Post. Here's one from the 100th birthday of Russia's Anna Francis

Think about it. These days folks use their smart phone in a second to snap pictures from a high school reunion or a family Christmas party. In a few more seconds they'll have the pictures posted on Facebook. 30 years ago? The only time I saw pictures like that is when I read The Community Post. The late great photographer and editor, Dick Bensman, buzzed all over the area to capture these events. And always in short sleeves I might add! What we do today in seconds took Dick hours of work, no doubt.

When Dick Bensman wasn't snapping photos he occasionally 

got his own picture in the paper

As the 80's passed I grew up and moved away. My grandparents passed away. I became more interested in world events and national news. The internet was born and a little later Facebook came along. I thought my days of reading The Community Post were over. That is, until I discovered the Minster Historical Society website. They have archived copies of The Community Post all the way back to the 1800's. I've been taking trips down memory lane recently, reading papers from the late 70's and early 80's. Every paper takes me about a half hour to scroll through... just like Facebook.

To see the archive of newspapers from The Community Post click on the following link: http://www.minsterhistoricalsociety.com/minster-newspapers.html