Page:History of the newspapers of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.djvu/132

 108 HISTORY OF BEAVER COUNTY PAPERS. Beaver Falls Journal. No record exists of any other newspaper in the town until 1874. The first printing office established in the present Beaver Falls was that installed in November 1873, by Gilbert A. Hays, who removed his equipment from Sewickley, and opened up a job printing office in the Reeves building on Main street, now Seventh avenue, under the title of Boles & Hays. The office was con- ducted until August 1877, when accepting a lucrative offer ia the then frontier country, as manager in one of the large wheat farms in Dakota, near Bismark, he dis- posed of his interest to his partner, Scudder D. Boles. Soon after opening their office Boles & Hays began the publication of the "Beaver Falls Journal," the initial number appearing October 1, 1874, which continued monthly until the next year. Gilbert Adams Hays was bom in Kittanning, Pennsyl- vania, July 9, 1854, his father Alexander Hays, then chief engineer of the Allegheny Valley railroad, later being one of the conspicuous figures in the Civil War, giving his life, with the rank of a Major General, to his country, on the battlefield of the Wilderness, Early in life Gilbert A. Hays acquired a decided taste for the art of printing, his first training being in the office of Rev. John Launitz, who printed a small German Sunday School paper in Manchester, now a part of Allegheny City, and his experience in "pi-ing" a big form, just inked, all in German type, is yet one of the star tales of his printer life. In February 1869, he accepted a position in the general office of the old Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago Railroad, in Pittsburg, having charge of the stationery department for four years, when he