At the Register, one legacy ends and a new one begins

SANDUSKY — Wednesday closes the books on what may be the oldest family-owned business in Sandusky. The Rau family has owned the Sandusky Register for 150 years. On Thursday, Ogden Newspapers — a chain owned by another family, the Nuttings — will take over the Register and Norwalk Reflector and continue the papers' tradition of providing local news coverage.The sale was announced July 17.In an interview that day in the Sandusky Register newsroom, Sandusky Newspapers CEO David Rau said that as he flew to Sandusky for the announcement, he double checked the 150-year figure, which dates to a family takeover of the newspaper in 1869."I did the math today on the back of an envelope on the plane," Rau said.WATCH: Sandusky Newspaper Group owner Dave Rau on "Between the Lines"Ron Davidson, special collections librarian at Sandusky Library, told the Register he could not find evidence for an older family-owned business in Sandusky."I was looking over the business directories," he said. "It looks like the closest we get is 1878, when Buderer Drugs was founded. They seem to be a consistent family-owned company."The Sandusky Register traces its history back to the Clarion, a paper begun by David K. Campbell in 1822.Campbell had begun a previous Sandusky newspaper, the Ohio Illuminator, in 1821, but it failed.The Clarion succeeded, however, although publishing breaking news was a struggle in those early days."News trickled slowly, often a month late, over the trails from the East," according to an official history of the Register, published in an employee handbook. "There was no telegraph, no railroad and steamboats were unknown."The Clarion became a daily newspaper in 1848, carrying telegraph news. Campbell sold the paper in 1851, and it was renamed the Daily Register.The paper became the Sandusky Register in 1869, when Isaac Foster "I.F." Mack, a Civil War veteran, bought a half-ownership. Mack became sole owner in 1871 when he bought out the other owner.Mack was succeeded in 1909 as editor and publisher by his brother, John T. Mack, who in turn was succeeded in 1914 by sons John D. Mack (business manager) and Egbert Mack (editor.)In 1929, the two Macks and R.C. Snyder, John T. Mack's son-in-law, bought a rival paper, the Sandusky Star-Journal.Snyder bought control and moved the Register into the Star-Journal building, built in 1920, at Jackson and Market streets. That's where the Register operates today, and will continue to operate under the new ownership.Ogden Newspapers CEO Robert Nutting, who came to Sandusky July 17 and met with the paper's staff, also gave a Register an interview and said community newspapers are important to Ogden. Nutting said the Register and Reflector were attractive to Ogden because they are strong newspapers with a long legacy of serving readers."I fundamentally believe that newspapers are not only important, which I believe they are, but valuable to our communities," Nutting said. "I know we need newspapers as a community, as a country."The Rau family has found other ways to impact the local communities in Norwalk and Sandusky. For example, in 2010 the new Snyder/White Heart & Vascular Center was dedicated in Norwalk.Both Alice White Rau and her brother, Dudley A. White Jr., spoke and explained their $1 million donation to the project in honor of their parents, Dudley A. and Alice Snyder White, and their grandparents, Reginald C. and Alice Mack Snyder.Over the years, there have been many changes at the Register, but it stayed in the hands of the same family. When Snyder died in 1941, Dudley A. White Sr. became publisher. Mack-Snyder-White descendants maintained ownership until today.David A. Rau, 69, is the great-grandson of R.C. Snyder and the great-great-grandson of John T. Mack.Rau said he made the difficult decision to sell the Sandusky Register and Norwalk Reflector to Ogden Newspapers because he believed Ogden had the resources to keep the papers strong and continue their mission.Ogden owns more than 40 daily newspapers in the U.S., including several Ohio papers."The decision to sell was a very difficult one. Ultimately we decided that given the tremendous changes in the media business over the past generation, the Register and Reflector, and both communities, would be better served were they owned by a larger company with more scale," Rau said. "I've always been a newspaper man," Rau said. "In the long analysis, you have to be able to control your emotion, at least harness it in the right direction."The Rau family will continue to operate two daily newspapers and three weeklies in Tennessee, Rau said.A 1920s postcard shows the Sandusky Star-Journal building. It soon became the Sandusky Register building and will continue Register operations there under the new ownership. During a segment of "Between the Lines" on July 17, David Rau, CEO of Sandusky Newspapers, talks about Ogden Newspapers purchasing the Sandusky Register and Norwalk Reflector.Robert Nutting, center, CEO of Ogden Newspapers, and Ron Waite, left, publisher of the Sandusky Register, talk on July 17 to a group of Register editors discussing news stories for the July 18 edition. A retirement party for Kay Uebele Dennis, held in the Sandusky Register building in the 1930s. I.F. Mack, who took over the Sandusky Register in 1869 and bought the other owner's remaining interest in 1871. Congressman Dudley A. White Sr. He was a member of the U.S. House until 1940. When he died in 1957, he was publisher of the Sandusky Register and the Norwalk Reflector-Herald. Two men look at a copy of the Sandusky Register, probably in 1914. David Campbell, founder of the Sandusky Clarion newspaper, which later was renamed the Sandusky Register. Members of the Rau-White family in 2010, when they donated $1 million for the Snyder/White Heart & Vascular Center. From left are Ronai White, Louisa White, Dudley White, Nicholas White, Norman Rau, Alice White Rau, and David Rau. Nicholas White is the founder and editor of the Daily Dot, a publication which covers the Internet.