EARLY NEWSPAPERS Before there was a Murray County, the area had a newspaper. The Cherokee Phoenix published its first issue February 21, 1828 at New Echota. This was the first newspaper ever published by an Indian tribe. Elias Boudinot, educated at the Brainerd Mission and at Cornwall, Connecticut, was the editor of this unusual newspaper that was printed in a mix of English and Cherokee. The last issue of the Cherokee Phoenix published at New New Echota was dated May 31, 1834. The press and type were seized by Georgia officials. It was almost fifty years later that a new newspaper was published briefly at Spring Place. The Murray County Gazette published from May 21, 1879 till June 3, 1879. North Georgia Times was published at Spring Place from October 19, 1881 till May 18, 1891. The Spring Place Jimplecute commenced publication the week after North Georgia Times folded. It lasted more than twelve years with its final issue dated November 9, 1903. For approximately six years Spring Place was a two-newspaper town! Murray News was published there starting March 1897 and ending October 1913, overlapping publication of North Georgia Times. The Chatsworth Times began publication in Chatsworth September 4, 1913. A paper called Murray County Messenger began publication at Eton in 1914. Of these, only the Chatsworth Times continues to publish in the new millennium. Copies of many of the above newspapers are available on microfilm at the Chatsworth-Murray County Library.
