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The Elkins Inter-Mountain was established as a Republican newspaper in 1892. The weekly newspaper’s first editor was N. G. Keim, who came to Elkins as a private tutor to the family of Sen. Stephen B. Elkins. Keim remained as editor for two years and then was succeeded by a series of other editors until 1898, when Herman Johnson took over the Inter-Mountain. Johnson bought the newspaper from the Inter-Mountain Publishing Company.

The office of the newspaper suffered a fire in March 1897, but the Inter-Mountain continued to publish. It became a daily newspaper in October 1907. Eldora Marie Bolyard Nuzum, who was the first female editor of a daily newspaper in West Virginia as editor of the Grafton Sentinel during the late 1940s, later served 32 years as editor of the Elkins Inter-Mountain.

In August 1974, the Inter-Mountain suffered another disastrous fire, destroying the newspaper building and all equipment in the printing plant. Again, the newspaper continued to publish, with staff members taking the contents to Parkersburg to be printed. Nine days after the fire a new press arrived, and the Inter-Mountain was once again in publication in Elkins. By December it had moved into a new building.

The Inter-Mountain, now owned by Ogden Newspapers of Wheeling, is the only daily newspaper in Randolph and seven surrounding counties. Published Monday through Saturday afternoons with no Sunday edition, the 2016 circulation of the Inter-Mountain was 7,809. As of 2023, it boasted a circulation of more than 10,000, a significant increase in a time when newspapers have been on the decline.

Last Revised on October 31, 2023

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e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia "Elkins Inter-Mountain." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 31 October 2023. Web. 27 November 2024.