Evening Echo - History

History

In 1842, a 15-year-old boy from Kerry, named Thomas Crosbie, began to work for the paper. He later became its editor and, on Maguire's death in 1872, became proprietor as well. The newspaper has remained in the hands of the Crosbie family ever since. Under Thomas Crosbie's stewardship, the newspaper became a morning paper which appeared six times weekly. He was also responsible for launching the Evening Echo in 1892.

The newspaper's printing presses printed the First National Loan for the Sinn Féin Finance Minister, Michael Collins in 1919, leading to the British authorities briefly shutting down the paper. Ironically, the I.R.A. damaged the newspaper's printing presses in 1920, which were again destroyed by the anti-Treaty I.R.A. in 1922.

For decades the Evening Echo has been connected to the "Echo Boys", who were poor and often homeless children from the 1930s and 1940s that had the job of selling the newspaper. Today, the shouts of the vendors selling the Echo can still be heard all over the city. Other local newspapers are also printed in the city, but are less well known.