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1884-1937 Clemens Rausch, founder of the Monroe County Beacon, was born in 1884. Rausch worked for The Spirit of Democracy from September 1898 to September 1900, when he went to work for the Taxpayer. In 1903, the Taxpayer sold to the Monroe County Republican. Rausch published the Republican under a lease from Ohio News, Inc., until 1937 when he bought the paper and changed the name to the Monroe County Beacon. 1937 Rausch chose the name Beacon to "shed some light" on the happenings of Monroe County. The first issue was published May 2, 1937, with the heading of "Twice a week -- A dollar a year." When Rausch died in 1946, his children, Hilda and Elmer took over the paper's operation. 1950 In 1950, Elmer bought his first camera and the paper became known for its pictures of area events and landmarks. The paper was published semi-weekly for 26 years before going to weekly publication in 1963. In 1971, the Beacon became the first paper in the area to be printed with an offset press. Clara Rausch, wife of Elmer Rausch, started working with her husband at the Beacon in 1937. She likes to say that from 1937 to 1977, when Delphos Herald, Inc. acquired the newspaper, she did "everything from cleaning corners to counting money." Clara continued as a proofreader well into her 90's. 1977 The Beacon sold to Delphos Herald, Inc. in 1977. After the sale, the paper had three publishers in as many years. The first, William Covington (1977-78) was followed by Carl Rust (1978-80); the third was Bill Power (1980). Pam Sloan took operated the Beacon from 1980-1990. Sloan hired Arlean Selvy as a stringer in 1981. Selvy became a full-time employee in 1990, becoming the managing editor in 1994. 1990's The Beacon continued into the nineties with new publishers. The first was William Mitchell, who followed Sloan, publishing the paper from 1990-1994. He was followed by Robert Gates in August of 1994, who was in turn followed by Kristina Vineyard in September, 1995. Sloan returned to the Beacon as publisher in 1997. Following the sudden death of Sloan in 1998, Arlean Selvy was named publisher and served until she retired in 2010. Selvy was followed by Martha Ackerman who served as publisher until June of 2012. Today Darin Brown serves as the General Manager/Editor of the Beacon as part of the Delphos Herald chain. Member: National Newspaper Association, Ohio Newspaper Association and Buckeye Press Association

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