Delmus C. Harden’s career in Mississippi journalism began with a coin toss and grew into more than three decades of service to his newspaper and community.
A native of Itawamba County, Harden faced hardship early in life. By age 18, he had lost both parents and assumed responsibility for helping support his family. He later moved to Amory, where he worked for his cousin, Theron Harden, at the Amory Advertiser, performing janitorial duties and hand-feeding the newspaper press. After five months, he moved his family to Amory and sold his Fulton home for $350 — only to pay 10 times that amount to buy it back when he returned to his hometown and entered the newspaper business.
In 1945, Harden was working for the Jackson (Tenn.) Daily Sun when he learned that Elzie Wright was interested in selling his newspaper, The Itawamba County Times. Harden traveled by bus to Fulton and met with Wright. After four months of negotiations, the two agreed on a price — but still had to decide who would own the controlling interest.
They flipped a coin.
Wright won the toss and chose to sell his share, making Harden the newspaper’s owner. The partnership lasted only about four months, but Harden’s association with The Times would continue for decades. He became owner, editor and publisher of the newspaper in 1945 and remained at its helm until 1977.
Under Harden’s leadership, The Itawamba County Times chronicled the life of its community while adapting to dramatic changes in newspaper production. In its early years, the paper was printed on a hand-fed press, one sheet at a time. Harden edited the newspaper, wrote stories, made up pages and sold advertising. By 1951, The Times averaged 12 pages a week, and its circulation grew from 1,250 copies in 1945 to 3,500 by the early 1950s.
Harden guided the newspaper through the transition from hot-metal production to offset printing while maintaining a steadfast commitment to local news. That philosophy was captured in the newspaper’s longtime slogan: “The Only Newspaper In The World That Cares Anything About Itawamba County!”
Through more than 30 years of leadership, Harden built The Itawamba County Times into an enduring community institution and earned the respect of readers and fellow journalists across the state. In recognition of his distinguished career and contributions to Mississippi journalism, Delmus C. Harden was selected as one of the inaugural inductees into the Mississippi Press Hall of Fame.
