Troutman family purchases 151-year-old Cassville Democrat, where their story began

Kyle and Jordan Troutman check their watches, as they sit behind the front desk of the Cassville Democrat.

"Don't let us forget to go to the Square," Jordan said with a laugh.

"Seven-year-old gets off the bus at the Square," Kyle turned and said. "One of us will go get her."

Ten minutes later, Jordan steps out and returns with daughter Elizabeth, who bounds into the foyer, with a homemade Christmas gift in one hand. She's off to her "office," a desk tucked inside the newsroom, where she unloads her backpack.

The Cassville Democrat, located on Main Street off the town square, is where the Troutmans spend much of their time as a family. When not there, they can be found both covering and enjoying events together, like the Cassville Chili Cook Off Festival in October or TroutFest in June. Starting Jan. 1, the family's involvement with the weekly paper will become even greater, as Kyle and Jordan have purchased the Democrat from CherryRoad Media.

CherryRoad Media purchased the Democrat in March. The technology company's goal is to "save community papers" on the brink of closure, Kyle said. Fortunately, the Democrat was not in that position, but Kyle's main concern after the purchase was the amount of outsourcing the company was conducting.

"Their model for these smaller papers that were dying is to outsource a lot of their processes, that for us are just so important to people here locally," Kyle said. "When you start taking that out of other locals' hands, it just doesn't feel right. If (community members are) not calling (the Democrat locally) and talking to somebody here, then it's weird for them."

In Missouri, CherryRoad Media owns The Monett Times, Marshall Democrat-News, The Examiner in Independence, Constitution-Tribune in Chillicothe, Boonville Daily News and Linn County Leader in Brookfield.

In the new year, the Troutmans have several goals they'd like to achieve, including connecting more with the community and producing a greater amount of hard-hitting news.

"We want to be involved in the community; we want the community to be involved with us," Jordan said. "We load up, get the stroller out and (Kyle) will take photos and I'll run around with the girls. We'll actually do the activity and have fun. I think that's something that's just really important to us. Our work and our home life have kind of always blended together, and that's what we want. We want our family out there engaging."

For the first few months under the Troutman's ownership, the Democrat will continue to rely on a contract delivery driver, but then the family will take over. On Wednesdays, when the paper is distributed, Kyle and Jordan will split the day, delivering papers to those in the community. Kyle said, as of mid-December, they print about 1,000 copies each week.

"Being a small-town paper, I think it's really cool to go out there and do that, to say, 'Hey, here's the paper,' as the publisher," Kyle said. "I think that's something that people really like to see, especially around here."

A newsroom romance

Kyle and Jordan have worked at the Cassville Democrat since January 2014 and August 2018, respectively. Kyle grew up in Little Rock, where he got his start writing and editing for the Little Rock Central High School newspaper. After graduating college with a journalism degree, Kyle worked at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock as a news clerk and The Daily Citizen in Searcy, Arkansas as a reporter, sports editor and page designer.

After Kyle's editor at The Daily Citizen moved to Missouri to manage the Cassville Democrat, Kyle co-ran the Searcy paper for a bit. Then, he got a call from his former editor, who wanted Kyle to take over as editor at the Democrat.

"I was like, 'Where the hell is Cassville?' and he said, 'Well, it's this little town in Missouri. Come on up and check it out,'" Kyle recalled. "I did and I told him no. A week later I was like, 'Alright, I changed my mind; I'll come up.'"

Once in Cassville, Kyle began to manage the Cassville Democrat and Monett Times, sister papers. Over the years, Kyle has served as an editor, sports editor, reporter and photographer for the two papers; he's really done it all. Come January, the Troutmans will only be managing the Democrat.

Jordan's path to the newspaper business is not as linear. She grew up in the Cassville area; prior to starting at the Democrat, she worked as a waitress, picking up double shifts on the weekends to pay for weekly daycare. Jordan said as a single mom at the time, she knew she needed something more stable, so she began to send out applications for any job she could, including a photojournalist position at the Democrat.

"I really had no idea what I was applying for," Jordan said. "To be completely honest, I saw 'photojournalist,' and I was like, 'Oh, I'm an amateur photographer, I could do that.' I had never intended on being a journalist. I never intended on owning a newspaper, but it kind of worked out that way."

At the time of Jordan's hire, Kyle had been without a reporter for six to eight months. Jordan didn't have the "experience," but she was eager to learn.

"From August (2018) to December (2018), we spent every single day together," Jordan said. "He taught me everything he liked about about the job, all the challenges about the job. It was like a crash college course for a few months. We went to a lot of events together, chamber banquets, Christmas parades, city festivals, and that's when we kind of realized, 'Oh no, we like each other.'"

The two attempted to keep their relationship a secret but were successful for only a few weeks. In September 2019, Kyle proposed and by October 2020 the two were married. In August 2021, the Troutman's welcomed baby Olivia, who is now 16 months. The same week of Olivia's birth, Kyle legally adopted Elizabeth.

"I love to tell people I had two kids by the same women in a week," Kyle said with a laugh.

The Troutmans live and breathe the Democrat, and when the opportunity arose for them to take over ownership, the decision was pretty much a no-brainer.

"We fell in love in this office," Jordan said. "We met in this office; this is how our family started. This is where our passion and hearts are."

Nearly 151 years of local ownership

The Cassville Democrat was locally-owned for about 151 years. The only period that the publication was corporate-owned was from 2004 until now, with the Troutmans due to take over in January.

According to a news story published by the Democrat, the weekly was founded in 1871 by John Ray, who served as a surgeon during the Civil War for the Union Army. He published the Democrat until his death in 1889. For over 120 years, the paper stayed within the Ray family until the mid-1990s, when the family sold the Democrat to Mike and Lisa Schlichtman.

The Schlichtmans sold the Democrat to Rust Communication in 2004, before it was sold to CherryRoad Media in March.

Jordan said she and Kyle called both Lisa Schlichtman and Bob Mitchell, a member of the Ray family, prior to making the announcement public. She said both were excited to hear that the paper would be returning to a local family's management.

Looking to the future, Jordan hopes to complete her bachelor's degree in marriage and family therapy in the spring and then begin her master's degree next fall.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Troutman family purchases 151-year-old Cassville Democrat