He came into our office a couple of weeks ago carrying an extraordinary framed document, albeit a little beaten up.

County Constable John Johnson, of Precinct 7, said he had a neighbor who he watched out for and one day the neighbor gave him a gift.

It was a framed copy of the Waco Morning Times, dated Sunday, July 26, 1896.

Grover Cleveland was president of the United States and the country was witnessing what historians consider one of the most fascinating presidential races in history between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan.

The lead story that day was about massive flooding in Colorado that claimed several lives.

Prominent front page advertisements included Sanger Brothers, which was having a sale on ladies’ suits for $2.95.

There was also an ad for Behrens Drug Co.

This gem of history that Johnson brought to me is, by far, the oldest original Waco newspaper now in our possession.

“Somebody else offered me money for it, but I thought it belonged here,” Johnson told me after we agreed on a sales price.

A few weeks later, Trib owner Clifton Robinson brought in with him a box and a large grin on his face.

Inside the box was a gift from Waco businessman Leo Bradshaw Jr.

Years ago, Bradshaw told Robinson, Bradshaw’s father gave him a complete copy of a historic edition of the Waco Tribune-Herald, dated Sunday, Oct. 30, 1949.

This edition, still in a special wrapper that kept the newspaper relatively well preserved, commemorated the centennial of Waco. It touted itself as “the most complete history of Waco ever printed.”

Beyond the historical overview that it provided, it offered a wonderful snapshot in time with stories such as a front-page update on a fund-raising drive to build a Baylor football stadium.

Bradshaw told Robinson that he remembered his father gave him the newspaper and he began looking for it when Robinson took control of the Trib in August.

Of course, we’re delighted to come across such artifacts and we endeavor to use them in a manner that benefits the public.

I like to brag that we have one of the best private museums in Waco, a large room tucked in the back of our building that pays tribute to our newspaper heritage. It always amazes guests to the newspaper.

It has everything from significant front pages from the past century of publication to a specially decorated Trib go-cart that my children frequently urge me to take outside and drive around the parking lot.

Perhaps the greatest treasure in that collection is the linotype machine on permanent loan to the Trib from the Houston Chronicle, a testament to those golden days of newspapering when we poured hot lead into letter matrixes to form lines of type that would eventually be the basis of the impression that our giant printing presses ran to produce the Trib.

Like any good historic display, not only do the artifacts in this room tell the story of the Trib, they tell the story of Waco and Central Texas.

Headlines scream about war and peace, about presidential assassination and about horrible natural disasters that have befallen our community directly or impacted it along with the rest of the world.

And while the history of Waco may not change, new artifacts seem to illuminate different aspects of our town’s history so that the story of Waco always seems to take on new meaning.

We’re interested in your newspaper artifacts as well.

If you remember having an old newspaper in your attic or something that was handed down to you from a relative, we would love to see it.

For something special, we would even consider buying it.

So let us know what you have and help us build a richer history of Waco.

Editor Carlos Sanchez can be reached at 757-5703 or csanchez@wacotrib.com.