The Monroe County Independent announced Wednesday that it has been sold and turned over to the Republic-Times, ceasing publication after 20 years. 

“I am leaving the local news coverage in very good hands,” the Independent‘s Ed Wienhoff stated in his farewell article. “The Republic-Times has a talented, hardworking staff who perennially win state awards for their news coverage. You can rely on that paper to keep you informed.”

The Republic-Times, which has covered Monroe County and surrounding areas since 1890, thanks Wienhoff and the Independent for the years of dedication to the community and its trust in our paper to present all the news that’s fit to print.

For Independent readers who do not subscribe to the Republic-Times, your print subscription will be honored by our paper beginning in March. For those who subscribe to both the Republic-Times and Independent, you are eligible to also receive unlimited website access to the Republic-Times as well as our digital edition for the duration of your existing Independent subscription. 

For answers to frequently asked questions, click here. For more information, email news@republictimes.net or call 618-939-3814.

The Republic-Times newspaper office is located at 205 W. Mill Street in Waterloo.

The Republic-Times is a successor to Waterloo’s first newspapers Independent Democrat (1843), War Eagle (1845), The Patriot (1852) and Waterloo Advocate (1858).

H.C. Voris, who worked as a shop foreman at that final paper, bought it and changed its name to the Waterloo Republican in 1890. His son, Bryant Voris, continued the family tradition, serving as the editor of the paper from 1941 until his death in 1962. Last in the Voris family chain was Robert, who very successfully kept the newspaper a household name into the early 1990s.

In 1979, the Waterloo Republican purchased the Waterloo Times, morphing into the product that still stands strong today as the Republic-Times.

Covering the Monroe County communities of Waterloo, Columbia, Valmeyer, Hecker, Fults, Maeystown, Renault and surrounding areas that include Millstadt, Dupo, Prairie du Rocher and Red Bud, the Republic-Times is a subscription-based paper that is published on Wednesdays and appears in thousands of mailboxes, in-boxes and computers every week.