Gatesville Messenger changes ownership after fire, will keep publishing

The Gatesville Messenger will keep publishing for Coryell County readers even after the downtown fire that destroyed its building and nearly a century of archives, with ownership set to transfer after the April 25 edition. Publisher Sam Houston said that issue will be the last produced under Hyde Media before operations move to the Copperas Cove Leader Press.

The change comes after the fire was first reported about 6:50 p.m. on March 16 in the 100 block of South 6th Street near the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office. The blaze burned into the morning of March 17 and was later determined to have started in The Gatesville Messenger building. Coryell County Judge Roger A. Miller signed an emergency disaster declaration for both the county and the City of Gatesville after the fire, underscoring how deeply the loss affected the county seat.

Houston said it was important that a newspaper in Gatesville survive the catastrophe, and he said he was confident the new owners would continue serving the community well. Under the new arrangement, David Morris of the Copperas Cove Leader Press and David Tuma of The Belton Journal will oversee the paper, creating a three-paper setup meant to keep coverage going in Gatesville and nearby communities. The Messenger will operate out of Gatesville Primary School after Superintendent Dr. Barrett Pollard offered space, giving the newsroom a base while it rebuilds from the loss of its downtown home.

That continuity matters in a city of 16,135 people, where the paper has long carried county government news, city council coverage, school developments, obituaries, and emergency information. The Messenger began publishing in September 1907 and has spent generations chronicling births, deaths, celebrations, and crises in Coryell County. The fire destroyed all of its archives, including nearly a century of records that mattered not only to the newsroom but to families, historians, and anyone trying to trace the county’s past.

The loss was especially stark because downtown Gatesville’s historic district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 9, 2026, just days before the fire. The district covers about 12 blocks and includes 87 resources centered on the 1897 W.C. Dodson-designed Coryell County Courthouse. A Square Relief Benefit is scheduled for April 25 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the courthouse square, with support from Mission Gatesville, the City of Gatesville, and KWTX, as the town keeps turning toward recovery and the paper that records it.