Commentaries

Remembering William Allen White at 150

By Bobbie Athon

Published February 9, 2018 at 2:10 PM CST

Emporia Gazette publisher and award-winning writer, William Allen White, was born on February 10, 1868. He died on Kansas Day (January 29) in 1944.

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Emporia Gazette editor and publisher William Allen White, reading his paper

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Emporia Gazette editor and publisher William Allen White on the cover of Time magazine, August 9, 1940.

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Emporia Gazette editor and publisher William Allen White standing next to his desk in his newspaper office at the Emporia Gazette. (Photos from Kansas Historical Society)

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One of the state's most influential writers and journalists would have turned 150 years old this weekend. He took a small town newspaper, the Emporia Gazette, and made it famous. We're talking about William Allen White, and tomorrow (SAT) marks the 150th anniversary of his birth. As part of our occasional series on Kansas history, Guest Commentator Bobbie Athon (A-thun) tells us more about the "Sage of Emporia."

Guest Commentator Bobbie Athon is a lifelong Kansas and the public information officer for the Kansas Historical Society. She lives in Topeka. She'll be bringing us more essays about important Kansans in the coming months, as part of an occasional series here on Kansas Public Radio.