The Star

The Star began publication under the direction of Harry Linney sometime during 1900; when it first appears in the McKim newspaper directory [Montreal: 1901]. If the volume numbering is accurate and consistent the first issue was published on Thursday, October 4th, 1900. The Star billed itself, in an ad in the Ontario Gazetteer [(1901-2); 293], as: “An unlimited independent journal. The leading paper of the town. Eight pages. Forty columns. An excellent advertising medium. Book and job printing a specialty.”

There is very little known about this newspaper and there are few known extant issues. The Star’s printing office also published the well-known Souvenir of Fenelon Falls of 1904, and Choice Recipes of Fenelon Falls (1905), a copy of which survives in the Fenelon Falls Museum.

Linney operated the paper for about a year (1901) when it was sold to R.J. Moore. There is some confusion as to the date. In the Souvenir of Fenelon Falls [which Moore printed], Moore states he took over control of the paper in August 1901, and he first appears in the directories by 1902.1 The Star office was located on the west side of Colborne Street, north of Francis, “opposite Heard’s store”. Moore continued to publish until 1907, or possibly 1908. Certainly by 28 May 1908, Moore had moved to Lindsay and merged The Star with the Weekly Free Press which began publication on that day. “Mr. Moore…is the former proprietor of the Fenelon Falls Star, which has been merged with The Weekly Free Press, thus giving the new paper a valuable circulation of 500 copies in the county surrounding Fenelon Falls and in North Victoria” [WFP 4 June 1908; 4].