|
The Metropolitan At
the turn of the 20th century, a local colored journal was being
published in Denison. Dr. D.W. Shields, physician, was editor for
the quite popular newspaper. The Sunday Gazetteer of 1900 labeled articles which were reproduced from The Metropolitan to the Gazetteer as "gems."
 About mid-February 1900 Dr. Shields paid The Gazetteer office a visit, which occasioned the quote taken from The Metropolitan about Mayor Lebrecht's re-election .
 The Metropolitan focused on local politics. Later that same month the Gazetteer
reproduced an article that had been written on Louis Lebrecht, praising the Mayor as one focused
on what was right.  In
May 1900 this newspaper weighed in on the election of School Trustees.
One such article reported negatively on Dr. Nagle as running
for school trustee; consequently, Dr. Nagle did not win a school
trustee position in the election but was beaten by A.H. Terrell by a
slim margin; A.H. Terrell was well qualified to serve and set a
historic mark in Denison's history by being the first African-American
to run for a school trustee position.
The Sunday GazetteerSunday, May 13, 1900  The Sunday Gazetteer Sunday, May 13, 1900    It seemed a concensus that political articles written in The Metropolitan
greatly affected the outcome of the 1900 school trustee election, both
in a positive and a negative manner. Dr. Birch, one of the
candidates for school trustee, announced after the election that he
believed his success in gaining a seat on the School Board because of
an article written in The Metropolitan, supporting him as a candidate
for trustee.
The Sunday Gazetteer Sunday, May 13, 1900  On
another subject affecting Denison people was an article praising Mayor
John S. Knaur for the manner in which he handled the smallpox plague.
Mayor Knaur was in politics, a Republican; and traditionally the
Republicans were friends of the African American population. The Sunday GazetteerSunday, June 3, 1900  As well as politics and health news, The Metropolitan also published social news of its community. The Sunday Gazetteer January 28, 1900  Dr.
David W. Shields of The Metropolitan is listed in the 1903 Denison City
Directory. But by 1905 he had moved to Dallas and was associated
with another local newspaper, The Dallas Express, 1919 - 1924.
Dr. Shields died in Dallas in 1937 at the age of 75 and is buried
in Woodland Cemetery.  Find-a-Grave Memorial #77411268   African American Research Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send a message. |