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p14 weekender july 5 1986 economist and sun a markham institution for 130 years by robert donnelly in 1856 partisan newspapers abounded in an era when there were two canadas upper and lower weakened and divided along cultural lines local liberals or whigs as they were called in those days called for abandoning equal rep resentation for the controversial rep by pop which would clear ly subordinate french speaking canada to their anglophone neighbors in the east one of these staunch liberals was a markham native named david reesor who on july 3 1856 established one of the first news papers in this primarily rural area the economist today 130 years after the first edition rolled off the presses the economist and sun qualifies as one of the oldest established businesses in the region the nascent journal reflected mr reesors liberal tendencies and a strong loyalty to the com munity in which he grew up his long and distinguished career began as a local magis trate in 1849 and culminated in 1867 when after having met the requirements of being at least 30 years old and owning property valued at 4000 he was appointed to the first canadian senate his local contributions included a position as secretarytreasurer for the markham agricultural society and as a member of the school board responsible for establishing a markham gram mar school he also served as a lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks uirlnmvymd see fast results lulhllii diciccihitidseiipiolo pounds in 2 weeks find keep oil jiiihfjvmj wont feel liuiifiry yiiii will feel niniiirngfri every single day call now ami he read fur the sum men your first oinsullnlion is free 4714500 markham medical centre n 254a main st markham m diet center july august hours mondayfriday 9 am130 pm 330 pm6 pm after 6 pm by appoinlmenl closed saturday ask about our summer special publisher bruce annan in front of the economist and sun office member of the york county and township councils warden of york during the 1860s he became warden of the united york and peel counties and a notary public it was at this time that the founder of the economist relinquished its ownership to his brotherinlaw henry k corson while he shared his predeces sors liberal ideology and pioneering spirit mr corson was also a daring and innovative en trepreneur a gold rush sparked by the 1858 discovery of the elusive metal in the fraser river saw the im petuous young man lured to the west coast by the prospect of quick profits only to return to markham industry weath- erbeaten with a mere 35 in gold dust and nugget to show for his efforts mr corson would remain editor and publisher of the economist until his death in 1909 some of the highlights of his career included his close friendship with tory sir john a macdonald and promoting the whitbymarkham telegraph line which was to be one of the first in canada he was also a shareholder with the markham scarborough plank company a director in the speight manufacturing com pany and a village clerk for several years improved printing in 1873 the era of the hand press was superceded by the introduc tion of the wharfdale power press which was a capable and reuphqlster with toromark eupholster with markhams oldest upholstery shop since 1950 we make your old suite look like new 50 a discount on fabrics free home estimates 5 year guarantee on workmanship armcaps decorating service pickup delivery 6 monthly payments at no extra charge also drapery and carpeting trust us and you wont be sorry toromark furniture house ltd 2942581 4772055 hwy 7 just west of hwy 48 i in the iga plaza markham reliable piece of equipment that printed about 900 sheets per hour and continued to serve the needs of the paper until 1930 robert j corson took control of the reigns of the newspaper fol lowing his fathers death and in 1915 expanded the papers market share by buying the rival mar kham sun and henceforth the paper became known as the mar kham economist and sun the markham sun in contrast to the liberal bias of the eco nomist was tory paper which ori- ginated in 1881 under george chauncey in 1887 a fire des troyed the printing facilities in toronto and the paper moved to markham paper bought out in 1893 the paper was bought by hamilton hall jr prior to being sold to mr corson and the eco nomist the economist moved into the sun office before relocat ing to 112 main st the economist and sun was run by the corson family until 1940 it was then sold to two former em ployees john whetter an df williams during which time they undertook another move this time to a former livery stable built in 1906 at 11 joseph st df williams son mel even tually took over the newspaper business and saw a dramatic in crease in circulation from 900 in 1940 to more than 4000 in the early 1970s harry stemp bill keysers and the theneditor edith weber purchased the economistand sun in 1972 however the alliance was shortlived as mr stemp and mr keysers bought out mrs webers shares in 1973 and by june 1974 they also sold their interest in the company to inland printing and publishing again the paper was on the move as its new owners decided that a higher profile was needed with the corporate dollars flow ing the markham economist and sun found itself at 72b main st in the village shoppes plaza in february 1981 inland and its media rival in printing and pub lishing metrospan merged to form metroland and in the pro cess caught many employees by surprise modern facility the markham economist and sun has occupied its present home a modern facility with computerized editorial advertis ing and distribution departments at 9 heritage rd since july 1984 bruce annan a markham boy became the publisher of the mar kham economist and sun in 1983 before his arrival on the scene however he dropped out of mar kham district high school after grade 11 and like his predecessor henry r corson he took his chances and ventured west in 1971 after failing to land jobs at a car wash and a restaurant he finally landed a job at the edmon ton journal by arriving at 630 am for the interview giving new meaning to the cliche the early bird catches the worm he even tually worked his way up from copy boy to sports writer return to markham i was fortunate to get that job wryly adding or else i could still be washing cars today four years later he moved on to the metroland paper oshava this week and during an eight- year stint rose from sports editor to news editor to editor there be fore returning to his home town in 1983 as the publisher of the eco nomist the growth of the paper has been reflected in the ever increas ing press runs of the two editions wednesdays broadsheet has bal looned from the 4000 mark set in the early 70s to 21000 copies today the weekender tabloids rise has been even more impressive since its inception a little more than one year ago on june 15 1985 the circulation of the free satur day paper has soared from an ini tial 23000 copies to 25000 and now sits at 30000 and counting reuphqlster with toromark pronto muffler dbr1y shirts saturday morning shirt service in by 1030 am out by 4 pm chirtc 4 ac fokkd w hd jiiiits fuwe starch or no starch also same day service every day of the week estutes 2942353 are your clothes becoming to you or should they be coming to us markham cleaners 99 wellington st w hwy 7 across from mr grocer hours monwed 7 am7 pm thurs fri 7 ajjl9 pm sat 7 am6 pm centre