Henry O. Elkins was in his glory in 1943. Bath was celebrating its 150th anniversary. He was celebrating his 50th anniversary as editor of the Courier. The Courier was celebrating its 100th anniversary. And since he was a good Presbyterian, he probably also enjoyed the 400th anniversary of the Westminster Assembly.

*The Courier was a Republican party paper back then, but Henry Elkins seems to have seen clearly that requirement for any small-town publisher: you have to boost your town. He attended annual meetings of the Steuben County Society, a convivial gathering of former area residents who’d made it big in New York City. (Glenn Curtiss was also a frequent guest.)

*Mr. Elkins was one of a long list of investors in a short-lived silk mill in Bath. In 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Elkins were founding members of the Monday Club, a literary society meeting in Bath. And he was an original investor when W. W. Babcock wanted to start making wooden churns… a company still in town, with a little change of focus, today. Even while publishing the Courier, he was postmaster for five years — the same year he became postmaster, he was also Master of the Masonic Lodge. He was chairman of the county Republican Committee — AND someplace in there he bought the paper.

*As a professional Republican he probably made sure the paper didn’t carry many flattering reports about Governor (and then President) Franklin D. Roosevelt, but in 1943 FDR sent him hearty congratulations on his golden jubilee anyhow. Roosevelt died two years later and Elkins followed him a year after that, first selling the Courier to Bob and Sterling Cole. Henry O. Elkins worked on the Courier for 55 years, from 1891 to 1946… 53 of those years as editor. He’s buried in Grove Cemetery.