[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The paper was known for its longevity and outlasting its peers, in 1880 there were 16 local newspapers in Grey County, but by 1920 only one remained, The Markdale Standard.

Blyth died on January 19, 1908, having suffered a stroke June of the previous year, and buried in St. Paul's Anglican cemetery.

[11] On September 17, 1880 the first issue of newly renamed Markdale Standard began under Charles Wesley Rutledge, who had purchased it from Blyth.

[23] On occasion of its 25th anniversary the Standard was recognized in The Globe's "The Spirit of the Press" column where it was noted that: "To the uninitiated, it may appear a soft snap to run a newspaper, but there is perhaps no business which requires closer application and more methodical attention to matters of detail than that of publishing a rural newspaper.

"[24] In the late-19th century, the paper published a dedicated half column to reporting railroad accidents and delays, which were then a constant feature of rural existence.

[1] After the 1935 federal election of Agnes MacPhail to the newly formed riding of Grey-Bruce, she kept her constituents appraised through a Weekly Letter From Ottawa in 1936-1937 issues.

[25] The Colgan family ownership ended in April 1949, when the paper was purchased by R. Gordon Craig of Ingersoll.

[citation needed] At the time, publisher Cheryl McMenemy explained the decision to end publication was strictly a business decision telling the Owen Sound Sun Times that: "There is no longer an advertising base within the Markdale area to sustain a community newspaper.