Beacon editor Robert E. Armstrong and Charlotte County Council at the Court House. The inset shows Mr. Armstrong in the Dec. 24, 1908 edition of the Beacon, his only image in the Beacon and one of the first images to appear in the paper. Charlotte County Archives.
Robert Edwin Armstrong was the mercurial editor of the St. Andrews Beacon from its inception in 1888 until the destruction of the Algonquin Hotel in 1914. In a commemorative piece on the death of Sir William Van Horne, he later recalled that he had been invited to come to St. Andrews to set up a newspaper by then General Manager of the New Brunswick Railway, Frank Cram, to promote both tourism and the Land Company's interests. The "Beacon" office was located in the basement of the Land Company office on Water Street.
It is difficult to sum up the varied archievements of Mr. Armstrong in a paragraph or two. He was at the helm during the most exciting epoch in the history of the Town, for the Land Company and the Algonquin Hotel, coinciding with the arrival of Sir William Van Horne and many other Montreal notables, marked almost the beginning of a new era for the Town. Armstrong wore many hats during this episode: reporting on developments at the hotel, its enlargements, interesting guests, fun events, curious characters; labouring mightily to advance the interests of St. Andrews as a winter port, and to wring concessions from the CPR; serving a Mayor, running for MP on several occasions, chairing many local committees, sampling the news both locally, provincially, nationally and internationally. Armstrong was an interesting combination of eclectic interests, literary panache, and fervent belief in St. Andrews' future as a commercial center. Evenually he took a position with the Saint John Board of Trade in 1914 and left the Town, but continued to write praiseworthy articles for the Courier and other newspapers on the beauties of Charlotte County. With the Beacon, local news and local people make a vivid and memorable appearance on the venerable weekly. I have made a few selections below which give some sense of the man's wit, humour, and dramatic still, as well as some "important" selections, such as his various interviews with Sir William Van Horne, a man he came to know quite well, even if, as die-hard Liberal, he didn't agree much with his politics.