Arlington Sun

The Sun is now 130 years old, having been continuously published under that name since April of 1885. The first newspaper in Arlington was The Nordland Gazette, which got its start in May of 1883, but it lost out to The Arlington Sun.

Elbert W. Smith and Thomas Hopp founded the newspaper, with Smith making the first editor. The partnership soon dissolved, and the Sun was in the hands of a series of short-lived publishers, before coming full circle to Smith again in 1891. E.W.’s son “Hal” became the publisher shortly after the turn of the century and edited the paper for several years.

Bert Lloyd arrived in 1910 and edited the newspaper until 1926 when a Beresford journalist named H.A. Sturges took over. That began a four-generation, 76-year history of the Sturges family publishing The Arlington Sun. H.A. Sturges remained at the helm until his death in 1944, when his son, Gerald L. “Gerry” Sturges, succeeded him. The second-generation newspaperman continued as publisher until 1980, when he sold the newspaper to his son, Robert G. “Bob” Sturges.

Bob Sturges passed away in 2001, and the reins were passed to his son Tim, who became Editor and Publisher. Tim Sturges operated The Arlington Sun until Jan. 1, 2003, before selling to Dave Parker, who was publisher for just over a year before selling to Chris and Linda Schumacher of Volga.

The newspaper was owned and operated by Chris and Linda Schumacher, until Chris’ death in 2012. Linda continued to run the paper until their purchase by Ken Reiste in 2016.