As Shaw Media celebrates its 175th anniversary, we looked back at four front pages from June 4. These archives serve as a time capsule, capturing everything from early 20th-century labor disputes and global human rights movements to local tragedies and modern-day social justice actions.
1911: The Joliet Sunday Herald
On June 4, 1911, the Joliet Sunday Herald focused heavily on labor conflicts and municipal transparency. The main headline, “Traction labor crisis at hand?”, highlighted a tense standoff and a potential streetcar strike in the city. The front page also featured an investigative report branding the local county jail as “old and unsanitary,” alongside coverage of the local high school’s upcoming commencement week and a national plea for trade reciprocity by President Taft.
1984: The Morris Daily Herald
The June 4, 1984, edition of the Morris Daily Herald captured a community deeply intertwined with industrial and global events. The front-page story detailed massive anti-war demonstrations as “Protesters try to block arsenal bridges” at the Rock Island Arsenal. In stark contrast to the global tension, the paper also carried deeply personal local dispatches, reporting on a community-driven fund drive for a local toddler’s heart surgery and a front-page obituary mourning a prominent local ex-publisher.
1989: The Northwest Herald
In 1989, the Northwest Herald led with a historic, world-changing headline: “Chinese troops kill 500 protesters,” capturing the initial, brutal scale of the crackdown in Tiananmen Square. Below this international breaking news, the paper maintained its hyper-local focus with a devastating feature on the enduring impact of drunk driving, titled “Family remembers son killed in car crash,” which profiled a local family’s grief one year after a tragic highway accident.
2020: The Daily Chronicle (DeKalb)
Rounding out the collection, the June 4, 2020, edition of DeKalb’s Daily Chronicle captured the raw, local momentum of a modern social justice movement. Under the headline “Area outcry grows,” the front page detailed the fifth consecutive day of local demonstrations and marches against systemic racism following the death of George Floyd. The issue also grounded readers in current realities, tracking regional COVID-19 statistics alongside promotional pushes for the 2020 U.S. Census.
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