The Journal Printing Building: Newspapers, Printing and Early Telephone Service in Kirksville

The Journal Printing Building at 119 S. Elson St. is easy to read as a newspaper building.

Its more interesting story is that two different communications systems operated under the same roof.

Printing presses worked downstairs.

A telephone exchange operated upstairs.

Built for the Journal Printing Company

Missouri historic-inventory records date the building to 1905 and credit C.C. Anderson as architect or builder.

It was constructed for the Journal Printing Company.

The company's roots predated the building by decades. Historical sources trace the Kirksville Journal to 1865, when local newspaper publishing was still a small-town printing business rather than an industrial media operation.

The 1905 structure gave the printing company a permanent downtown home.

The building was more than a press room

The 1906 Sanborn fire-insurance map shows a mixed-use building.

The rear contained printing operations.

The front was occupied by a billiards hall.

Upstairs was a telephone exchange.

That makes the building a useful snapshot of early-20th-century downtown Kirksville: entertainment, print media and electronic communication operating in one commercial structure.

Several newspapers passed through the building

Historic inventory material connects the Journal Printing Company with several local titles, including:

• Kirksville Journal;
• Kirksville Democrat;
• Weekly Graphic.

By 1916, the Kirksville Daily Express was operating from the building.

Later directories sometimes use both 119 and 121 S. Elson for portions of the property, which is why historical address research can look inconsistent even when the building itself has not moved.

The telephone exchange lasted for decades

Fire-insurance maps and directory evidence show a telephone exchange on the second floor.

By 1930, records identify Southwestern Bell Telephone Exchange space upstairs on the McPherson side of the building.

The 1942 fire map still identifies a telephone exchange there.

That makes the building an unusually clear example of two generations of communication infrastructure occupying the same place.

The printing operation moved information physically through paper.

The telephone exchange moved voices through wires.

Was this Kirksville's first telephone exchange?

The surviving building records prove that an early and long-running exchange operated there.

They do not establish that this was Kirksville's first-ever telephone exchange.

That is a separate citywide chronology and should not be inferred from the building's age.

Apartments appeared upstairs too

By 1930, directories suggest part of the upper floor had also become the Journal Apartments.

That means the building was simultaneously supporting printing, telecommunications and residential use.

The Daily Express moved before the printing company

The Kirksville Daily Express eventually moved to 110 E. McPherson.

Historic inventory evidence places that move between roughly 1935 and 1938.

The Journal Printing Company itself remained in the Elson building much longer, through 1979 according to City historic material.

Do not confuse the newspaper's move with the printing company's departure.

The building survives

The City says the façade underwent renovation in 2022–2023.

Current 2026 listings identify the Journal Printing Building at 119 S. Elson as an event-rental venue operated through TruColors Rentals.

That is another change of use, but the communication history remains embedded in the structure.

Why the building matters

The Journal Printing Building is not important simply because an old newspaper once occupied it.

It documents a period when local information moved through several overlapping systems:

press → printed newspaper → telephone exchange → modern reuse

At 119 S. Elson, Kirksville once printed the news downstairs while the town's phone calls passed overhead.