THE ECHO

The following is from an article in the St. Louis Park ECHO from May 27, 1976 written by Howard Milstein, Rori Wilensky and Tim Zuel

Two score and 19 years ago Ms. Winifred Fox Fletcher was on her way to school to fulfill her job as Editor-in-chief of the St. Louis Park ECHO.   At that time the high school building was located where Central Junior High is now.

In the morning, the school's 8-12 classes collected in the assembly hall for announcements.

Ms. Fletcher recalled one day when her English teacher mentioned that a school newspaper would be an interesting project.  After Ms. Fletcher was appointed Editor, she acquired a room which they christened the ECHO Press Room.

The ECHO started as a pamphlet that covered school gossip and sports events. The gossip in 1917 was limited since the average class size ranged from 15-20 students.  The gossip usually contained information on school events.  The sports section covered the Park basketball team which was the only outstanding varsity team of the period.

The most unique thing about the ECHO issues of 1917 was the joke section.  "I'm afraid the jokes would be too tame for these days," Ms. Fletcher reflected.

Ms. Fletcher's staff consisted of five people, all of whom chipped in to publish the ECHO.  The paper carried local ads for stores that were scattered along Walker Street.

Days were long ones back then since there were only two modes of transportation.  The first was the street car which ran from Reeses' (sic), down Lake Street to downtown.  The other was walking.  Ms. Fletcher walked 1.5 miles to school from her home, which was near Brookside School. 

She spent hours in the ECHO room writing copy and designing layouts and then walked 45 minutes home.  The reason?  "Because it was fun," she said, "besides during the winter a friend of mine had a sleigh hooked up to a team so I saved on the walking."

As Ms. Fletcher sat during the graduation ceremony of the class of '17, of which she was valedictorian, she wondered what would happen to the ECHO.  As she looks at it today, she says she is very proud.

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.