MONROE — It began as the Monroe Evening Times.

The first day of publication was Oct. 13, 1898 after Emery A. Odell, who hailed from a newspaper family, founded the newspaper as editor and publisher. In an article about his life, printed in the Times in January 1953, Odell’s “capital was 99 per cent ambition and optimism.” 

From that bit of confidence grew a news provider which celebrates its 120th anniversary today. 

Over decades, as with nearly everything, the Times changed. Its reporters, while maintaining that in-person discussions were the most important, shifted with the 20th century as more and more people acquired telephones. 

Today, it utilizes social media and online presence in a world centered largely around connectivity through the internet. And even as the faces change, the methods of printing are altered and less building space is needed to physically print the news, the Times fixates on the issues important to Monroe and Green County to ensure residents are informed of what is going on around them. 

In the next century of news cycles, things will likely change more than once. The Times will adapt as it has for decades and approach the news as Odell once did, with “an instinctive awareness of the news of his community and … unrelenting vigilance.”