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By Todd von Kampen

First newspaper published in North Platte is long gone, but its legacy lives on

A century and a half ago, The Frontier Index rolled through the town. It's been all but forgotten.

By Todd von Kampen
Apr 13, 2021
Apr 13, 2021 Updated Jun 26, 2026
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7 min to read

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For nearly 150 years, North Platte’s first newspaper has barely been remembered.

First newspaper published in North Platte is long gone, but its legacy lives on — After their first stops in North Platte and Julesburg, Colorado, Legh and Fred Freeman published their itinerant Frontier Index — nicknamed the “Press on Wheels” — in five subsequent Wyoming locations. They first published at Fort Sanders before moving 10 miles down the U.P. line to Laramie. Next was the long-gone ghost town of Benton, 10 miles east of Rawlins, followed by Green River. The Index’s last stop was in Bear River City, a ghost town 10 miles southeast of Evanston, where a mob burned the Freemans’ temporary office and press to the ground on Nov. 20, 1868
Courtesy of Library of Congress

First newspaper published in North Platte is long gone, but its legacy lives on — This pair of stereographic photos from about 1870 (which could be inserted into a “stereoscope” viewer to produce the illusion of a three-dimensional image) is the earliest known photo of the infant North Platte. It shows an eastbound view of East Front Street, with most of the buildings at right standing in the location of present-day Parkade Plaza. Blowing up the photo reveals the two-story brick building at right to be the T.J. Foley & Co. wholesale and retail grocery business. It stood at the corner of Front and Spruce (Dewey) streets, according to the March 11, 1872, issue of the North Platte Democrat.
Courtesy of Lincoln County Historical Museum

Last extant issue of The Frontier Index

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