The Tulsa World was first published on Sept. 14, 1905. The second Republican newspaper in a town that was predominately Democratic.
Eugene Lorton was named editor in 1911. He would run the Tulsa World for the next 38 years. In 1917, he became the paper's sole owner. For the first time the words, "Oklahoma's Greatest Newspaper" appeared on the identifying logo at the top of the front page. The phrase remained the paper's unofficial motto for nearly 80 years.
In 1915, in the midst of a highly personal fight over the lack of a clean, safe water source for Tulsa residents, the World advocated an ambitious, yet extremely expensive, proposal to build a reservoir on Spavinaw Creek and pipe the water nearly 90 miles to Tulsa. Charles Page was among those who opposed the Spavinaw plan. He had his own plan to sell water to Tulsa from another source for a much smaller initial outlay. Page started a new publication, the Morning News, with the expressed intention of silencing the World.
For three years the papers fired broadsides at one another. The World called Page a tax cheat who used his philanthropy to hide assets and camoflauge predatory business practices. The Morning News called Lorton a "hound from hell" and suggested he be lynched or at least chased out of town. In 1919, Lorton wrote, "It is the duty of a newspaper to expose evil, sham and graft; to arraign at the bar of public opinion, and eventually bring to justice, the officials of the city, state or national government who have betrayed their trust. It is not its duty or privilege to print untrue or libelous stories."
The Spavinaw plan eventually prevailed, and the creek remains Tulsa's primary water source. Page closed the Morning News in 1919 and sold its companion paper, The Democrat, to Richard Lloyd Jones, who renamed it the Tulsa Tribune in 1920.
Eugene Lorton died in 1949, leaving majority interest in the newspaper to his wife and smaller shares to four daughters and 20 employees. He intended, he said, for the employees to eventually own the Tulsa World. The widow, Maud Lorton, had other ideas.
In the 1950's she transferred one-fourth of the company to attorney Byron Boone , who became publisher in 1959. Upon her death, she left the rest of her shares to her grandson Robert. In 1964, Robert Lorton became director of the Newspaper Printing Corp -- a joint-operating agreement company that existeed between the Tulsa World and the Tulsa Tribune that combined all non-editorial business operations. In 1968, he became president of the Tulsa World and publisher upon Boone's death in 1988. The Tribune was bought by the World in 1992 and ceased publication. During those years, Robert Lorton reacquired the World's outstanding shares and made the newspaper entirely family-owned once again. In May of 2005, he passed the title of publisher to his son Robert E. Lorton III .
in 1920 and 1930 census in Tulsa Ok.
remarried after divorce and moved to Ct
later Vero Beach FlMother of World publisher dies By Staff Reports 7/25/2003
Beverley Rogers Wood, of John's Island, Vero Beach, Fla., died Wednesday. Funeral arrangements are pending with the Strunk Funeral Home in Vero Beach. Born Beverley Buckner Rogers to Harold O. and Rob Lockridge Rogers in Atlanta on Aug. 30, 1917, she attended the University of Wisconsin. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. In 1936, she married Robert Eugene Lorton and moved to Tulsa. Lorton, son of the then-Tulsa World Publisher Eugene Lorton, died in 1938. They had one son, Robert Eugene Lorton Jr., current publisher of the Tulsa World. In 1942, she married George F. Collins Jr. of Tulsa. They had three children: George Fulton Collins III of Tulsa; Beverley Collins Ward of Portola Valley, Calif.; and Roger Buckner Collins, also of Tulsa. She married Francis Carter (Bob) Wood of New York City in 1961, and they moved to New Canaan, Conn. They were members of the Woodway Country Club and the New Canaan Country Club. In 1974, the Woods moved to John's Island, Vero Beach, Fla. She was a member of the John's Island Golf Club and the Garden Club and was a sponsor of Ducks Unlimited. An outstanding competitor, while a young woman in Atlanta, she was twice Georgia state platform diving champion and once southeastern regional champion. When she lived in Connecticut, she was state .410-gauge skeet shooting champion. She was also an avid golfer and tennis player. In addition to her children and husband, listed above, she is survived by nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Friends are asked to contribute to the Hospice House of Vero Beach, 1111 36th St., Vero Beach, Fla. 32960.
remarried after divorce and moved to Ct
later Vero Beach FlMother of World publisher dies By Staff Reports 7/25/2003
Beverley Rogers Wood, of John's Island, Vero Beach, Fla., died Wednesday. Funeral arrangements are pending with the Strunk Funeral Home in Vero Beach. Born Beverley Buckner Rogers to Harold O. and Rob Lockridge Rogers in Atlanta on Aug. 30, 1917, she attended the University of Wisconsin. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. In 1936, she married Robert Eugene Lorton and moved to Tulsa. Lorton, son of the then-Tulsa World Publisher Eugene Lorton, died in 1938. They had one son, Robert Eugene Lorton Jr., current publisher of the Tulsa World. In 1942, she married George F. Collins Jr. of Tulsa. They had three children: George Fulton Collins III of Tulsa; Beverley Collins Ward of Portola Valley, Calif.; and Roger Buckner Collins, also of Tulsa. She married Francis Carter (Bob) Wood of New York City in 1961, and they moved to New Canaan, Conn. They were members of the Woodway Country Club and the New Canaan Country Club. In 1974, the Woods moved to John's Island, Vero Beach, Fla. She was a member of the John's Island Golf Club and the Garden Club and was a sponsor of Ducks Unlimited. An outstanding competitor, while a young woman in Atlanta, she was twice Georgia state platform diving champion and once southeastern regional champion. When she lived in Connecticut, she was state .410-gauge skeet shooting champion. She was also an avid golfer and tennis player. In addition to her children and husband, listed above, she is survived by nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Friends are asked to contribute to the Hospice House of Vero Beach, 1111 36th St., Vero Beach, Fla. 32960.
at one time worked for Liberty Glass as a regional mgr
name spelled Lockridge and Lochridge. had seen born abt 1887
Hollis Augustine Lockridge and Sarah Beverly Buckner from Lynchburg Va area originally