After 145 years, longtime Challis newspaper is closing its doors
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SALMON – A longtime newspaper in Challis is closing its doors after 145 years of operation.
The Challis Messenger was recently acquired by The Recorder Herald in Salmon. Recorder Herald Office Manager Nancy Ottonello tells EastIdahoNews.com the Salmon publication will take over the Messenger’s coverage beginning Oct. 1. The weekly paper will devote a section of its paper to Challis area news.
“We are dedicating at least a page, and possibly more if we need it, to the Challis Messenger each week. We have two pages that will be out tomorrow. We’re reaching out to the schools and community up there, and we’re trying to find somebody who wants to be a reporter for that area,” Ottonello says.
Ottonello says the Challis Messenger will appear in that section of their weekly paper, which is published every Thursday.
Adams Multimedia has owned The Challis Messenger since 2015. EastIdahoNews.com reached out for comment, but did not receive a response.
Ottonello says Adams Multimedia informed them about three weeks ago that they were selling The Challis Messenger and that, as “the next biggest publication in Custer County,” The Recorder Herald would be taking it over.
“They said we could take it over, or it would be closed out entirely because there’s nowhere else for it to go,” says Ottonello. “We’re excited to add Challis (to our coverage area). We’d slowly been trying to do it anyway, but we didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. We’re hoping that it can become just as big or bigger than the Recorder Herald.”
In its final article on Monday, The Challis Messenger reported that “the sale coincides with the retirement of Shelley Ridenour, who has worked as the Messenger’s general manager since 2017.”
Ottonello says Ridenour was the sole employee at the time of the sale. She “did what she could,” and The Recorder Herald hopes to build on her efforts within its staff.
A Challis institution since 1881
The Messenger, which the paper reported was “the second-longest continuously printed newspaper in Idaho,” dates back to 1881. Royal A. Pierce published the first issue of the Idaho Messenger in Challis on May 21, 1881. Milton Melvin Sweet bought it in 1888 and renamed it the Silver Messenger two years later when the free-silver movement was in full swing.
“By 1892, Sweet had full ownership of the newspaper. On April 25, 1894, a fire destroyed the printing office in the Burns Hotel, and publication stopped for two months, returning with a July 31, 1894, edition, printed from a building behind the Lyric Theatre. That building still stands on Fourth Street in Challis,” the Messenger reported.
After nearly a quarter-century of ownership, Sweet renamed it The Challis Messenger on March 19, 1912. He died in the office of an apparent heart attack that same year, and was found on the floor three years after his death on August 18, 1915.
Less than a month later, M.A. Dillingham was listed as the new editor.
Its current building at 310 East Main Street in Challis has been in operation since 1919. The east side of the building was used as a mortuary at one point.
“Many people have shared stories about taking piano lessons from a publisher’s wife in the back room of the Messenger over the decades,” the paper says.
Halsey Gridley bought the Messenger in 1929, and he and his wife lived in the Main Street building until the newspaper was sold in July 1959 to Richard Swindell. Swindell sold the newspaper to Louis Kristan in the summer of 1969.
On Nov. 1, 1972, Kristan sold the newspaper to Allen and Peggy Parks, who owned it for 32 years. They sold it to The Post Company on Sept. 1, 2004, which was acquired by Adams Communications in October 2015. Adams Communications, now doing business as Adams Multimedia, is finalizing the paperwork for the sale of The Messenger to The Recorder Herald.
The Recorder Herald also has a long history in Lemhi County, dating back to its first publication as the Idaho Recorder on June 12, 1886. Rick Hodges is the current owner.
Since 2005, the newspaper industry has seen a rapid decline. An annual report of the state of local news in 2025 reported a 39% decline in U.S. newspapers over the last two decades. About 8,900 newspapers were in operation in 2005. Today, about 5,400 newspapers remain.
Ottonello says The Messenger’s archive of old newspapers will be housed at the North Custer Museum in Challis.
To learn more or share a news tip, call the Recorder Herald’s office at (208) 756-2221.