The Orion Review is the oldest business in Orion.
It has been published from the same location, 30 N. Broadway Street since 1930, but its history dates back long before then.
‘We published a newspaper every week, without fail since December 24, 1881,? said assistant publisher Don Rush. ‘That’s 6,500 individual editions.
‘Think of the announcements, births, weddings, deaths, the good stories and the sad we have published. Think of all the faces, members of your family, your friends that have graced our pages. It’s mind boggling.?
Here’s a look back at The Review over the years:
The Review was born the day before Christmas, December 24, 1881. Then, it was known as the Orion Review, and the slogan ‘Independent in Everything—Neutral in Nothing,? was emblazoned across its masthead.
At the beginning, Orion was a modest community of some 400 citizens, noted widely for its raucous saloons and hard-drinking lumberjacks. A narrow dirt road, choked with ruts, connected the town to Pontiac, which was itself yet a small community.
It was 22-year-old John A. Neal who thought the town showed promise, and with his two partners, Joseph Patterson and Frank Sutton, began publishing the Orion Review at Lou Warner’s store on North Broadway.
Neal, a graduate of the State Normal College in Albany, NY, studied law in his spare time, and used his knowledge to work in the fields of pensions and insurance, to brace up the struggling newspaper.
A March 15, 1883 copy of the paper reveals that the first issues were 12? by 19? tabloids, and contained just four pages. There were few pictures in the five-column newspaper.
The early newspaper contained few (if any) headlines. Perhaps the most popular feature was a front-page column called ‘Driftwood,? which consisted of a line or two of information on townsfolk.
The Review moved to its present quarters at 30 N. Broadway in 1903, occupying a handsome red brick building, which formerly housed the post office.
Neal continued on as editor/publisher and stockholder, until his death in 1925. However, much of the work was done by his son, George H. Neal, who became associate editor and manager in 1913.
In 1915, George Neal took a wife, and he and Aurora Neal made their home across from Park Island, with a view of its dance halls and ferris wheel.
By that time, the newspaper had become an eight-page publication, coming out every Friday. During those years, the entire staff consisted of the editor, a girl who set type, and a printer.
A former school teacher, Aurora set about learning the newspaper business, and soon began to write for the publication as well.
During the early 1900s, just half of the eight-page newspaper was printed in Orion. Typesetting was difficult and it was Aurora’s weekly duty to board the electric interurban car to Detroit every Thursday, to have four inside pages set by Linotype at The Detroit Free Press.
In her January 31, 1957 account of the history of the Review, Aurora wrote: ‘I would board the early morning interurban car to go to The Detroit Free Press, where they copy was set, proof read, and after other corrections were in, they would load the usual five or six columns of type into my leather grip.
The Neals often found themselves hiring printers only to lose them because of the small wages that weekly newspapers paid. Retaining a regular staff was a constant problem, and neither knew much about the running of their own press.
During the Great Depression, the situation changed, and the Review received 85 job applications in response to an ad for a printer. The 50th anniversary of the Review found the newspaper in the midst of the depression, with display advertisting (the life blood of a newspaper) dropping.
The Neals plugged on, and by December 18, 1931, they managed to put out a 16-page anniversary issue of the newspaper, requiring many hours of exhaustive research. The couple lost money, but they were proud of the result.
Things got worse during World War II, when a printer seeking higher wages, left unexpectedly, leaving the Neals without any help. Deciding to get along with part-time help, they began putting in many extra hours on the job. The extra work proved too much for George Neal, who suffered a heart attack and died in 1946.
Determined to carry on the newspaper’s tradition, Aurora realized she needed help. She advertised and received the services of Hamline W. Robinson , who understood every phase of the business, and was a skilled writer.
A romance blossomed, and Hamline and Aurora were wed in June of 1947. In 1953, the Robinsons were ready to retire and sold the business to William Haight.
Haight was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism.
By 1955, Martin Carlson joined Haight as co-publisher of the newspaper, and two years later, Haight quit the business because of illness, leaving it to Carlson and David Erlandson.
In March of 1963, Erlandson resigned, leaving the business to Carlson and his wife Ellen. By January 2, 1964, Martin had taken over officially as the editor and publisher of The Review.
During the 18 years the Carlsons ran the newspaper, they developed strong ties with the community, participating in civic activities, including the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, and the Lake Orion Improvement Association.
As with the Neals, the operation of the newspaper became a team effort with the Carlsons.Ellen took on the job of office manager, and also served as a writer and photographer. Her favorite duty was developing pictures in the darkroom.
By 1972, the Carlsons were ready to move on to other things. Marty’s eyesight was also changing, making the task at the linotype more difficult.
It was on December 7, 1972, that The Lake Orion Review published its first issue under the ownership of James A. Sherman and his wife Hazel.
The sale of The Review had been affected on December 2.
Under the Shermans? ownership, the technology of printing the newspaper took a giant step forward. For 91 years, The Review had been printed on either metal or wood type, on a hand or sheet-fed press. The Shermans changed all that, by using a photographic process called ‘offset printing,? on a web or roll-fed press.
The Shermans came to the area in 1955, when they purchased The Oxford Leader newspaper. Prior to purchasing The Leader, Jim Sherman had worked for weekly newspapers in St. John’s and Gladwin. A self-made man, he worked his way up from the ground level of journalism, selling advertising and writing articles, until the day came when he could purchase his own newspaper.
Sherman’s newspaper holdings soon grew to include The Clarkston News, The Davison Index, The Ad-Vertiser (a shopper), as well as The Review and The Leader. However, by 1980 his son Jim, Jr. had taken over as publisher of The Index.
The format of The Review changed dramatically under the Shermans? ownership. It switched to tabloid size, and as the years went by, its style changed gradually to that of a community magazine.
The new look had an accent on photographs, local government and lifestyle features.
In 1980, Sherman initiated ‘Lifestyle/Sports,? a Leader-Review magazine which relied heavily on photographs and community features, designed to keep pace and vie for the time of the modern reader.
In the present, one finds both technological improvements, as well as threats to the existence of both small and large newspapers everywhere.
However, readers of The Review have traditionally been a loyal group, and have carried the newspaper throughout their entire lives.
As long as there is that sort of spirit and community involvement in Lake Orion, there will be a Review as well.
— excerpts from a piece by Robert Downes. Pick up a hardcopy of the newspaper for more.

In the past 25 years the paper has continued to grow with the community. Businesses have poured in to both the Village of Lake Orion and the surrounding township.
We’re even up and running on the internet – who would’ve thought that 125 years ago?
The staff at The Review would like to thank our dedicated readers for sticking with us for all of these years.
We ask readers to share their Review memories with us and others.
‘It’s quite a benchmark — something not only the staff here is proud of, but the community should be proud, too,? Rush said.
We hope to celebrate throughout the year with stories, pictures and maybe a party or two when the weather gets warmer.
Next week subscribers will receive a special 2007 calendar with old area photos, sponsored by TC Federal Credit Union and Grove’s True Value Hardware.
Published by Sherman Publications, Inc., and owned by the Sherman family since 1972, Publisher Jim Sherman, Jr., follows in his father’s (Jim Sr.) footsteps.
Sister publications today include: The Oxford Leader, The Clarkston News, The Ad-Vertiser, The Penny Stretcher, The Citizen and Metamora Crossroads.