Today is the 125th birthday of The Moultrie Observer. On March 15, 1894, W.H. Cooper cranked up his little printing press and published Volume 1, Number 1 of this same publication you hold in your hands.

“With this issue begins the life of The Moultrie Observer,” Cooper wrote in that first edition. “As a salutatory we only wish to say that we shall struggle to make this publication worthy of the praise and confidence of the citizens of Colquitt County.”

For the last century and a quarter, we have continued to try to live up to that goal, publishing the news of this community, the news from farther afield and timely and relevant opinions — as well as providing an advertising vehicle for the businesses of Moultrie and Colquitt County.

If we said there’d been some changes, it would be understatement to the point of self-mockery. That first newspaper was four pages; today’s is 18, and we’ve run more. That first press involved hand-laid type; today, everything is set by computer. The whole community Cooper sought to serve had only 700 people; the 2010 census gives Moultrie 14,268 people and the county as a whole has 45,498. We reach thousands of people each day through the internet and social media, tools that weren’t even imagined in W.H. Cooper’s day.

In that first issue, the young editor defined his newspaper’s editorial role as the defender of people’s rights, a policy the newspaper continues to follow more than a century later.

“It shall be The Observer’s policy to defend the landmarks of the people’s rights,” Cooper wrote. “The landmarks of liberty planted by our fathers, blessed by our mothers and marked and made sacred by patriot blood; the landmarks of religious freedom; the landmarks of public and private morality, these the Moultrie Observer shall struggle to defend.”

Cooper said the newspaper’s policy would be to “praise what is beneficial and condemn what is harmful whether in county, state or national matters.”

In conclusion, Cooper wrote: “We have not the foresight of a prophet; nor the wisdom of an oracle, nor the virtue and faultlessness of an angel; but we shall strive to champion the best men and not set down ought in malice against any one.”

Which still seems like a sound policy to us.

Back in 2012, Publisher and Editor Dwain Walden wrote the history of The Observer as part of a story in the Holiday issue of DownHome magazine. Click here to see how far we’ve come.