Beginning with today’s edition, readers will notice a subtle change to the colour of the banner for The Fort Frances Times Bulletin. We’re changing it from the now-familiar reddish-pink to a shade of blue that matches our flagship weekly paper’s banner.
Updating the banner colour might be a small change, but it reflects our commitment to keeping the Bulletin fresh while honouring its long heritage as a durable chronicle of Fort Frances. This year, we’re continuing to build on that legacy, adding to our reporting staff and continuing to hone our focus on the local news and current events our readers need to know about.
This issue marks the first edition of Volume 97, meaning the Bulletin is entering its 97th year of publication. From a single daily sheet to a twice‑weekly newspaper, it has become one of the longest‑standing records of life in our community.
The Bulletin began on Oct. 6, 1931, as The Daily Bulletin of The Fort Frances Times, a one‑page sheet proclaiming “WE PRINT THE NEWS,” produced every afternoon and delivered to every home in town. Sixteen hundred copies went out (almost) daily, carried by “eight local boys.”
“Today The Times issues its first Bulletin of a service that it is proposed to issue each day of the week, Thursday excepted, to patrons of Fort Frances in order that a properly printed and edited daily news and advertising service may be available,” reads the foreword from the first edition.
“This action has been taken after repeated requests from advertisers of The Times and others who desire a daily bulletin service. It will be devoted to items of daily interest/news of our merchants and will be at your home for the evening supper hour.”
“Readers are asked to phone 41, giving us any items of news that is desirable, and if you want to buy or sell anything, the Bulletin advertising service is at your disposal.”
Needless to say, our phone number is no longer 41.
Those early issues were quite brief and direct: The top headline of the first edition was “Criminal Court Opens Today,” reporting on Judge McLellan’s docket of three criminal cases and two civil matters.
Other items noted visitors in town, a boy’s broken arm, a toddler’s burns, the Teachers’ Association convention at the high school, and radio reports of Philadelphia defeating St. Louis 3-0 in the World Series.
Advertisers promoted dresses for $6.95, fresh eggs at 22 cents a dozen, 30‑cent meals at the Monarch Hotel, running‑water rooms at the Fort Frances Hotel, sheet music at Preston’s Drug Store and hamburger at 10 cents a pound.
How times have changed, indeed.
It was a snapshot of daily life in Fort Frances during the Depression, captured in a single sheet.
Over the decades, the Bulletin evolved from a one‑page daily into a more substantial publication, with the Times committing to an eight‑page minimum about 15 years ago.
Today’s Bulletin is a very different paper. No longer a daily, it now appears every Tuesday and Thursday, offering a concise, community‑focused roundup that complements The Times. Yet one thing has never changed: each edition captures a snapshot of the town’s life, preserving the everyday news, announcements and the rhythms of Fort Frances for generations to come.
