The Clayton Tribune GA

The Clayton Tribune began in 1897 when J.A. Reynolds of Demorest, armed with a simple hand press, began publishing a newspaper in Rabun County. A surveyor and engineer by trade, Reynolds was forced several times to buy wrapping paper from local merchants to use as newsprint to prevent missing a publication.

Reynolds arrived in Clayton to find only two stores, and no bank or railroad. But just 23 years later, Reynolds would proudly write that Clayton not only had a bank and a railroad but long distance and local telephone service, 14 hotels and boarding houses, electric lights, a city-owned water plant and two of the finest automobile dealerships in upper Georgia.

Reynolds operated The Tribune until about 1914, when he sold the newspaper to Frank D. Singleton. The new owner built a concrete building on Depot Street, which became known as the Tribune building. He also purchased and installed a more modern press run by electricity.

Singleton consolidated The Clayton Tribune with the Clarkesville Advertiser and changed the name to the Tri-County Advertiser, which became the official organ of Rabun, Towns and Habersham counties.

In 1924, Singleton leased the Tribune plant to L.P. Cross of Rochelle. He and his son, Edwin, put out their first issue of The Clayton Tribune on Jan. 10, 1924. The lease continued for three years until Cross purchased the plant and the newspaper.