The Daily Review, Morgan City Louisiana: history and archive

The history of the newspaper The Morgan City Daily Review (also known as The Daily Review) is strictly connected with the history of the town where the paper was established in 1916.

In the early 19th century, a man named Dr. Walter Brashear from Kentucky settled in a coastal town in Louisiana called St. Mary Parish. The town was later renamed Morgan City in 1876 after Charles Morgan, a wealthy railroad tycoon who invested in the area. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the town's economy was primarily driven by the lumber and seafood industries. However, by the 1920s, the cypress industry had declined and the oyster beds were depleted. Despite this, the shrimp industry remained strong and Morgan City eventually became known as the "Jumbo Shrimp Capital of the World."

Despite attempts to tap into the oil industry in the early 20th century, Morgan City missed out on the wealth that the petroleum industry brought to other parts of Louisiana. Instead, the town gained a boost in 1917 when it was awarded a government contract to build warships, providing hundreds of jobs for the local population. By 1925, the population of Morgan City had grown to about 6,000.

The Morgan City Daily Review, a newspaper founded in 1916, covered local and international news, including the impact of World War I on life in Morgan City and the surrounding area. The paper also reported on entertainment in the town, which included a number of movie theaters showing the latest films. In 1917, the Daily Review even covered the filming of Tarzan of the Apes in the nearby swamps, which served as a stand-in for the African jungle.

The Daily Review, originally a weekly newspaper, merged with the Morgan City Review in 1920 to become the daily Morgan City Review. Charles Edwin King, the paper's managing editor and a native of Missouri, remained associated with the paper until 1960. In 1963, the paper's name was changed to its current title, the Daily Review. King was a prominent figure in Morgan City and was known for his efforts to promote flood control and waterway improvements, including the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.