Stittsville News

Oldest community newspaper in the city of Ottawa

Two newspapers now serving the community

Stittsville has been served by a community newspaper for more than half a century.

Indeed, The Stittsville News, one of two newspapers currently published by the Ottawa Region Media Group in Stittsville, is the oldest continuously published community newspaper in what is now the city of Ottawa, having been founded in 1957.

In the late 1950’s, Stittsville was experiencing a period of modest new housing growth, moving from a community of about 500 people following the Second World War to a community of about 1200 people in the late 1950’s. One of these new residents to the community was Howard Maguire who had moved to a new house in the community in 1954. He had worked in the community newspaper business elsewhere and while working for the federal government printing bureau and later the daily Ottawa Journal as a linotype operator, he came to see Stittsville as a growing community that would be a great place to start a community newspaper.

This is just what he did, publishing the first-ever four page issue of The Stittsville News on December 12, 1957. It began as a once-a-month publication but quickly was produced twice a month, beginning in September, 1958. In 1961, Howard was joined by his brother Lloyd Maguire who had been working for the Hamilton Spectator newspaper. On September 14, 1961, The Stittsville News began weekly publication, first on Thursdays and later switching to Wednesdays. It generally ran eight pages in a tabloid format.

The Maguire brothers ran The Stittsville News until June, 1972, publishing not only the newspaper but also running a busy job printing enterprise. In June, 1972, the paper was sold to the Renfrew Advance which operated the paper for three years before selling it in May, 1975 to John Curry, a young newspaperman who ended up operating the paper for the next 26 years. Stittsville had grown to become a community of 2500 people by 1975.

The newspaper was produced as an eight page tabloid in 1975 but then was quickly developed, eventually reaching a newspaper size of 40 or more pages in the 1980’s and 1990’s. This reflected the growth of the community itself, with its population increasing first to 5,000, then 10,000 and then 17,000. Today, the Stittsville community is at 22,000 and growing, with more new subdivisions coming on stream regularly.

The Stittsville News, under the ownership of John Curry, remained community oriented and, as it had been under the Maguire ownership years, very much a family business. Mr. Curry’s mother, the late Mary Curry, handled the bookkeeping, circulation and typesetting functions of the paper.

Barb Fairbrother of Stittsville handled office duties for The Stittsville News in one manner or another for close to 20 years. John Brummell first began covering events for The Stittsville News in the late 1970’s as a friend and volunteer and became a full-time reporter and photographer for the newspaper.

In March, 2001, the newspaper was sold to Runge Newspapers, a regional group of community newspapers in various Ottawa Valley communities. With the sale to Runge Newspapers, John Curry stayed on as editor as did John Brummell as a reporter and photographer. At this time, the Stittsville News was joined by the Stittsville Weekend Signal, a total market penetration, free distribution newspaper which had been started by Runge Newspapers in Stittsville in 1997. This publication has now become the Stittsville Weekender, a sister publication to The Stittsville News.

In November, 2005, The Stittsville News and Stittsville Weekender, as part of the Runge Newspapers group, were sold to Metroland Media Group Ltd., the community newspaper division of the Toronto Star publishing business and the largest owner of community newspapers in the province of Ontario.

With this sale, once again John Curry stayed on as editor with John Brummell remaining as a reporter and photographer.

In 2007, the pair were joined on the editorial side of these publications by Cheryl Brink as a reporter.

1. Head in the Clouds
   Up, up and away
2. EDITORIAL
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3. Couples choose new year to call it quits: Mediator
   Seasonal stresses create ‘trigger’
4. Transit strike hurts resource centre
   Demand increases for volunteer drivers
5. Crime rate rises 10.5 per cent
   Mischief, theft account for most offences: Ottawa police
6. ‘There’s space here in Kanata’
   Federal government looks at massive relocation of civil service outside of Greenbelt
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   Couple win award for best decorated house in Briarbrook, Morgan’s Grant