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Social media platforms allow users to share their day-to-day experiences — where they go, who they spend time with and even what they eat.

But long before social media platforms provided space for life’s everyday happenings, The Greenville Advocate published “This Week’s News in Greenville: Items of Local Interest, Briefly Paragraphed” for readers to enjoy.

On Oct. 3, 1900, The Advocate printed the news that a Black man, Dunk Taylor, had been critically injured in a knife attack and was thought unlikely to survive. The news followed an announcement that a minstrel show would benefit the Anti-Tuberculosis Association, mentioned just beside a delivery detailing travel plans for Rev. O.V. Calhoun, who had left for Montgomery to attend the annual session of the Alabama Conference of Bishops.

Alongside the hard-hitting crime news and accounts of city leaders was the “Personal Mention” section, where readers learned that Mrs. Albert Metcalf of Mobile was the guest of Greenville relatives and Miss Webb of Atmore was visiting her cousin, Mrs. Price McKenzie.

The page reads much like a social media newsfeed, with life’s highlights nestled snugly among advertisements for the latest and greatest modern conveyance — a light but sturdy buggy in 1900 and a sporty new car in 2024.

A recent effort to compile historic volumes for digital storage led the Advocate staff on a trip down memory lane, an adventure revealing the names of bygone generations whose descendants still operate in and around Greenville today. 

Readers can visit our Greenville or Luverne offices to view the pages, worn and brittle with age. Soon, the articles will be available for viewing on Newspapers.com, where the ages cannot degrade the historic accounts of Butler County communities.

We appreciate the opportunity to help our readers share life’s important moments, the great and the small. Social announcements are still available. For more information email editorial staff at news@greenvilleadvocate.com.