The Lawton Constitution

The Lawton Constitution company description

The Lawton Constitution, launched six years before statehood, is Comanche County’s chief information source. Born as the Lawton Democrat, the Constitution came into its own in 1903 after a fight. One group – seeking to expand – purchased the weekly Elgin Eagle and moved it to Lawton, where it was promptly renamed the Lawton Daily Constitution. J. Roy Williams served as its editor. Four years later, in 1907, the Daily Constitution merged with the Democrat and became the Lawton Constitution-Democrat. T. M. Bixby was editor. Between 1907 and 1910 the paper was sold and resold many times. Eventually, only two Lawton newspapers survived: The Lawton Daily Constitution and The Lawton News. In 1923, the Shepler family purchased The Lawton News and converted it to a weekly, leaving the Constitution as the lone daily newspaper in town. In 1934, the Lawton Morning Press was established as a morning daily edition, while the Constitution remained a daily afternoon paper. That union lasted until 1988, when the Morning Press ended publication. Still, while the newspaper industry has changed dramatically, the Constitution’s core function hasn’t: provide the people of the area high quality news and sports coverage. Through much of its history, the Constitution was a family effort, beginning with Shelplers, until they sold the paper to the Bentley family in 1967. The Bentley’s published the paper until 2012, when it was sold to the Burgess family. Six years later, the Burgess family sold the paper to the Southern Newspapers chain, a community newspaper company based in Houston, Texas, with operations in both Texas and Oklahoma. Last year the Constitution returned to its roots – Southern sold it to Lawton’s Hilliary family. Today, Dustin and Edward Hilliary are co-publishers while JJ Francais serves as Executive Editor and Associate Publisher. “Our goal remains the same,” Francais said. “To serve the citizens of the area and to publish the best newspaper possi

• Employee count

  51-200

• Industry

  Newspaper Publishing

• Headquarter address

  102 SW 3rd St, Lawton, Oklahoma 73501, US

• Country

  United States

• Founded

  1903

• Company website

  https://swoknews.com