Mt. Pleasant News settles into new office

After over 50 years in the same location, the Mt. Pleasant News is now located in a new building right off the square in Mt. Pleasant at 119 West Monroe Street.

New desks were moved into the office on Wednesday, Dec. 12, with staff following Friday afternoon Dec. 14, closing an hour early to be ready to open and for regular operations Monday morning.

'When we first put the for-sale sign in our old building I feared the public would think we were leaving town, but that's definitely not the case,” Managing Editor Karyn Spory said. 'With this new office space we have reaffirmed our commitment to covering Mt. Pleasant and Henry County.”

As The News looked for new office space, Spory said it was imperative to stay downtown since it has always been a hub of activity. The new office is also a 'gesture of gratitude” to The News staff, she said.

'Our team works incredibly hard day in and day out to bring the best news coverage to the public,” she said. 'It's nice to now have our staff working in a location that not only meets their needs electronically but is honestly a lot nicer than before. I'm excited for this next chapter in The News history with its move down the block.”

The News publisher Matt Bryant echoed Spory's sentiment, saying that it's nice to have a fresh new space to work in.

'We think our new office is much more welcoming to our customers and much nicer for our team to come to work in every day,” Bryant said.

Bryant said that the new office gave The News the opportunity to 'start fresh” with their technology needs, running new cabling and updating all computers and monitors, among other things.

'This will help position us better as we move into a future that is more and more digital focused,” Bryant said.

The News moved printing of the newspaper offsite several years ago, removing a printing press that sat in the back of the former building. With the printing press gone, Bryant said it no longer made sense to occupy that whole building, and the new space is more suited to The News' needs.

The new newsroom is one of many locations The News has occupied throughout its long history. In the 1930s, The News moved into what is now Choices at 211 West Monroe Street in Mt. Pleasant, according to 'The Newspapers of Henry County, Iowa 1848 to 1944.” At the time the building was remoddeled and outfitted with an old Washington hand press.

A few decades later, The News moved into the building next door at 215 West Monroe Street in Mt. Pleasant between 1964 and 1966. Before the building became The News office, it was a bowling alley, and in 1955, it was Fleenor Motors car dealership.

The current Mt. Pleasant News location also holds a lot of history. Pat White, with Henry County Heritage Trust, acquired recepts from the building from 1935 when it was Miles Rukgaber's hardware store. In the 1970s, the building was a mail-order Sears.

'It was a lot of different things through the years,” White said.

Now the new office 'is a great new start,” said customer service representative Dottie Simmons.

Simmons works at the front desk and is the first face customers see when they walk into the newsroom. She said the new setup is easier for customers because she is right there to greet them as soon as they walk in.

Jerry Teberg, News circulation coordinator, said the setup is efficient. With too much room in the former News building, Teberg said things got lost. While the News is still organizing some boxes in the new building, here, everything has its place.

Customers should not expect any disruption in their newspaper delivery. 'It should be completely seamless,” Teberg said.

The News is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.