03/20/2026
Wonder & Son Publishing Officially Purchases Onawa Sentinel
It is with great pride that the Onawa Democrat welcomes patrons and subscribers of the Onawa Sentinel to our readership family. We only wish that this merger could have come under better circumstances than the loss of fellow editor/publisher, Loren Sawyer.
After years of friendly competition and a mutual rivalry of serving the citizens of Onawa and Monona County, Wonder & Son Publishing and the Wonder Family are proud to welcome new subscribers and advertisers through this acquisition of the Onawa Sentinel, a long-standing publication in Onawa that just finished celebrating its 140th year of serving the area.
The Onawa Sentinel was established by W.H. Green in March of 1885. Mr. Green had been running the Whiting Sentinel prior to his decision to move to Onawa and start a newspaper. He started the newspaper with only material enough to print one page and a cheap army press.
In 1894 the Sentinel was sold to J. A. Lister at the young age of 22. His shop was located in a back room upstairs over the Blotcky Bros Store until a new building was erected by the Standard Station at 106 W Broadway N and the operation was moved in the early 1900’s.
W. R. Prewitt was the next owner of the Sentinel purchasing it in 1904 from Mr. Lister.
The Gossards, T. L and C. B. purchased the Sentinel on November 15, 1907, and by 1924 they had installed up to date equipment.
In 1936 the Sentinel was sold again, this time to F. E. and T. C. Flack of Blair, Nebraska. On September 20, 1937, the Sentinel packed up and moved a couple blocks a way to the Sears Bottling Works Building, located at 116 West First Street in Onawa with more new equipment being added.
On June 29, 1939, Earl Senholtz of Atlantic, Iowa purchased the Sentinel. Earl only owned the Sentinel for two years before selling it to WM E. Brown on September 11, 1941.
Mr. Brown appointed Peter McCoy as Editor and Olver C. Kelley as Business Manager in January of 1942.
On January 7, 1944, Olver C. Kelley became the publisher of the Onawa Sentinel. Mr. Kelley expanded the Sentinel through the purchase of the Whiting Argus on March 4, 1948.
O. C. Kelley of the Sentinel died suddenly in January of 1967. His wife, Clara continued as publisher until selling to the Sawyer Family in January of 1969.
The Sawyers made the transition of the newspaper from hot to cold type; however their first addition was the scanagraver in August of 1969. This was so they could provide the readers with more pictures in the newspaper.
The Sawyers then purchased the Soldier Sentinel from John Wade on January 29, 1970. In September of 1970 the Soldier and Onawa Sentinels were combined.
Current Democrat Editor Fredrick W. Wonder III or Freddie as he’s known is the great-great-great grandson of the Onawa Democrats original founder Wiliam H. Wonder, who passed away in 1917. The founder’s son, and second generation publisher, Fred W. Wonder passed away in 1961. The third generation publisher, William “Bill” H. Wonder passed away in 1974 and most recently the fourth-generation publisher, Fredrick W. Wonder II passed away last year.
Freddie graduated from West Monona high school in 2002 and took over duties as co-owner in 2004 with the retirement of his grandfather before eventually taking over full ownership and editorial duties in 2019 after his father William suffered a stroke.
Freddie Wonder, sixth generation owner/editor of Wonder & Son Publishing, dba the Onawa Democrat, has been part of the “office” since he was 10 1/2 weeks old and has welcomed many a customer from a very early age and also served as a “printer’s devil”.
In February, the Onawa Democrat newspaper celebrated its 136th year of operation and now after the purchase of the Onawa Sentinel from the Sawyer Family is officially the oldest continually operating business in Onawa.
The six generations of the Wonder family has proudly served the citizens and businesses of Onawa and all of Monona County with quality news reporting and commercial printing.
These services have run throughout the generations of our advertisers and subscribers as well and provided many memories and the establishment of many cherished friendships over those same 136 years.
Through that course of time, the business has followed a proud tradition of being a family-owned/father-son operation in and for the Onawa Community and all of Monona County. Our mission, a simple one of promoting the growth of and recording the history of the same. . .a tradition that continues today.
The Wonder family history in the publishing business goes well beyond the current publication, having started papers like the Mondamin Independent, the Whiting Herald, the Blencoe Herald, and Soldier Tribune before establishing the Onawa Democrat.
Later, his family would acquire the Moorhead Times in the 1970s, and now, the Onawa Sentinel to carry on those family traditions.
Wonder says he plans to continue his family’s tradition of preserving local history and serving the needs and accomplishments of his subscribers and advertisers.
Over the generations, the Wonders have held the Democrat as something more than a newspaper. They consider it a heritage worth preserving and a valuable asset to the community in which they serve in this capacity.
The years have been good to the Democrat, not only in the business that we’ve conducted, but also the friends we’ve made and the families we’ve grown with through their subscriptions to the newspaper.
In spite of ever-changing times and technologies, we at the Onawa Democrat want you to know we are proud of our heritage and service to our community, and the invaluable resource that “Your Hometown NEWSpaper” provides...to promote, support and help to grow the Onawa community and surrounding area. Of course, this would not be possible without the support of our extended family of loyal readers, subscribers, and advertisers, and new additions that we look forward to serving for years to come.
Send a message to learn more
