Berne Witness

The Berne Witness is a newspaper based in Berne, Indiana, United States. It covers local community news with a circulation of 1,600.[1] The paper was founded in 1896 as a 3-issue-per-week, bi-lingual, Prohibitionist newspaper.[2] The Berne Witness was also referred to as the official printing house of the Mennonite Church of the United States.[3] Every issue had two pages published in German for the town's mostly Swiss and German immigrants. For the largest immigrant group in Indiana, this was important to help immigrants maintain their cultural identity while integrating into their new country.[4]

The Berne Witness
Owner(s)Roger Muselman
Founder(s)Fred Rohrer
PublisherDRG Publishers
EditorManda Arnold
Circulation1,600
Websitehttps://bernewitness.com

Founding

The paper was founded in July, 1896 by Fred Rohrer, a devout Mennonite and Prohibitionist. While campaigning to make the town dry, Rohrer was run from town, beaten up on four occasions, and had his house dynamited while he and his wife were sleeping by the saloon owners of the town. Interestingly enough his paper prospered during this time and gained more subscriptions.[5]

History
  • 1896 founded as the Berne Witness by Fred Rohrer[6]
  • 1922 became the Adams County Witness, published by Berne Witness Co. the paper became English language only[7]
  • 1932 name was changed back to Berne Witness[8]
  • 1974 Publishers Print House became publisher and changed the name to Adams County Sun and Berne Daily Witness. Published daily except for Sundays.[9]
  • 1993 became the Berne Tri-Weekly. Publisher Sine nomine. the paper again became a 3-issue-per-week edition.[10]

Current Status
  • 2016 the paper reverted to its original Berne Witness name. It is once again published three times a week as well as online.[11]

References
  1. "Spreadsheet of Indiana Media Sources". State of Indiana, United States of America. 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  2. "About The Berne Witness". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  3. Tyndall, John; Lesh, Orlo Ervin (1918). Standard History of Adams and Wells Counties, Indiana: An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with an Extended Survey of Modern Developments in the Progress of Town and Country. 1. The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 229.
  4. "Marker highlights demise of German-language newspapers". The Herald-Tribune. October 19, 2017. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  5. Indiana Magazine of History. The Department of History Indiana University. 1913. p. 306.
  6. "About The Berne Witness". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  7. "About the Adams County Witness". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  8. "About The Berne Witness". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  9. "About The Adams County sun & Berne daily witness. (Berne, Ind.) 1974-1976". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  10. "About Berne tri-weekly news. (Berne, Ind.) 1976-1992". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 7, 2019.
  11. Andrews, Jannaya (August 2, 2016). "Tri-Weekly Reverts to Former Name: The Witness" (PDF). Retrieved April 7, 2016.


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