Wood County Monitor

The Mineola Monitor was a newspaper in Mineola, Texas serving Wood County, Texas and the communities of Alba, Golden, Hawkins and parts of unincorporated Wood County. It was established in 1876 by D.C. Williams. In 1907 the Monitor was purchased by J. A. Thomas.

Alfred Padon was editor and publisher of the Wood County Democrat when it was founded in 1893 in Quitman, Texas with financial support from local area merchants.^[2] The newspaper's original site included a Vaughan Ideal hand-operated presses. The entire operation was reported to have cost around US$800(equivalent to $28,667 in 2025) to start-up.^[2]

The newspaper's main objective upon its founding was the opposition of Populism.^[2] Prior to that, Padon had been publisher of the Mineola Monitor.^[2] Quitman businessmen approached him about founding a newspaper in the county seat.^[2]

Padon resigned as editor and publisher in 1895, and the paper was briefly operated by Grogan and Goodwin for the owners, which included a Dr. Leath and Hix Rhodes.^[2] Then in 1896, Perno Thomas became editor.^[2] He later assumed ownership and sold a half interest in the plant to Earl Jones in 1901, but later repurchased it.^[2] In 1903, Clyde Jordan of Alba purchased an interest in the paper, but eventually Thomas again regained full ownership.^[2]

The paper merged with the Mineola Monitor to form the Wood County Monitor in 2016, ending publication under the Democrat masthead.