About Us

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   Past publishers and editors of the Chokio Review should be recognized for carrying on a community tradition – the weekly publication of Chokio’s newspaper.

 

    For 111 years, the Chokio  Review’s publishers and editors have been the recorders for the community, filling the many pages of the volumes they printed with the prosperity and decline, triumphs and disappointments, births and deaths, the joys and sorrows and everyday life of the area residents.

 

  Ann Dorweiler wrote in her 1973 Chokio Community History:

“The editors of our Chokio papers are among the unsung heroes of the pioneers.  I did not realize the full impact of their contribution until the past year, as I read hundreds of old Chokio Reviews.

 

   “Their style of writing varies.  The early editors used little punctuation, sometimes beginning a full column with a capital letter and ending with the period.  Some words used I have not been able to find in present day dictionaries.  Regardless of style, they were an educational facility in our community and its development.

 

  “They created an intelligent, informed and thinking media for the people through the years.  They contributed to the cultural, economic, and political life of the community.

“They were our ‘Booster’ for the Old Home Town.”

 

   The founder of the Chokio newspaper was Charles McAllen.  He began his paper, the Chokio Times, in a back room of his home on February 17, 1897.   In later years, the name of the newspaper was changed to the Stevens County Review and owned in order by Charles Seely, 1902; R.A. Johnson, 1904; and J.J. Maloney and E.A. Lee in 1907.

 

    Irv Townsend bought the newspaper in 1910 and changed the name to The Chokio Review.  Following Mr. Townsend as owners were: A.L. Bragg, 1915; F.A. Shipman, 1919; J. Leonard Manire, 1926; John Bollinger, 1928; George Townsend, 1930; Floyd and Bill Goulet, 1944; Gary and Jane Riba, 1966; Dean Brenner, 1968; Owen and Michele Heiberg, 1972; Nick Ripperger, 1997. 

The owners were also the editors until 1968.  Editors of The Chokio Review since then were: Joan McNally, 1968-1971; Charlene Grabil, 1971; Joan McNally, 1973-1978; Marion Amberg, 1978; Kay Grossman, 1979-1992;  Tammy Dierks, 1992-1994; Rhonda Asmus, 1994-2001; Nancy Woodke, 2001-2005; Nick Ripperger, 2005-2006; and Kay Grossman, 2006- .