Throughout most of human history, people have relied on the voices of other people to receive important news and announcements. Long before television or social media—or even newspapers—professional announcers called “town criers” served as the primary source of information in a city or town.
While most people know town criers from their depictions in popular culture, they were real historical figures, and an integral part of everyday life in both Europe and early America.
Early Town Criers
Town criers date back to the Roman Empire, says Christopher Gordon, historian and director of library and collections at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis. “Their main purpose throughout history was to spread news or to alert people of emergencies and other situations,” he explains.
Though we tend to think of town criers ringing a bell, in the medieval period they would blow a horn to get people's attention. “Back in the 1400s and 1500s, when they had parades in Europe, the town crier was way out ahead, and he announced that the parade was coming,” says Michael Lieber, the town crier of Sylvania, Ohio and a visiting town crier for Woodstock, Ontario.
Town criers in 15th-century Europe were typically retired military personnel who could read and write, according to Lieber. They reported to local monarchs, who tasked them with spreading information among their subjects. During the same period, town criers announced ships that were coming in and what freight they were carrying. They also collected taxes.
“That's where they came up with saying, ‘Don't shoot the messenger,’” Lieber says. “In Europe, if you did any harm to a town crier, you were put to death.”
Town criers took off in Europe throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries—not only in England, but in Germany, France and “basically any major population center, because they have a way to communicate information to people,” Gordon says.
Town Criers in the United States
In colonial America, town criers have existed since population centers began to grow, as British settlers brought the tradition over from England. Towns typically hired criers once they reached a size where they were incorporated. As was the case previously in Europe, the main function of the town crier was to make announcements—primarily because the average person couldn't read.
“That was the closest thing they had to mass communication,” Gordon says. “If there was news to be announced, people didn't have access to newspapers before the early 19th century for the most part, so that was the best way to communicate.” In some places, illiteracy rates remained high until the early 20th century, so people continued to rely on town criers to give them the news and to make announcements, he adds.
Town criers in Boston had initially been elected town officers in the 1600s, says J.L. Bell, historian and author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War. But by the 1700s, the town assemblymen or selectmen would appoint a town crier, Gordon says. “In most villages, it was almost like a municipal-type job,” he explains. “You would be appointed, and you would receive some kind of salary.”
While two town criers were typically chosen, in larger cities like Boston as many as five could be selected, according to the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. In some cases, town criers also held the office of scavenger (an early version of a sanitation worker, who disposed of waste and animal carcasses in public spaces) or hogreeve (a town officer responsible for impounding stray hogs). According to Gordon, town criers were typically stationed in places with high foot traffic, like a town square or market.
“The town criers were chosen to be active and reliable, respectable men who often had another business with their wives so that not all the family income came from being the crier,” Bell says. “They operated out of their homes, and holding the job for years meant people knew where to find them.”
And, of course, a town crier had to have a booming voice that could project throughout the town, Gordon says. After the medieval era, they typically rang a hand bell to get people’s attention before making an announcement.
Town criers could be white or free persons of color, Gordon says. Peter Logan, a man born into slavery who then bought his freedom, became the town crier of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1816. Similarly, a formerly enslaved freeman named Levi Dust served as a town crier in St. Louis in the 1850s.
The town crier announced public meetings and adjournments, and was subject to a fine if he cried anything foolish or obscene, according to the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.
They could also function as the town’s lost-and-found department. “In Boston, the crier was required to keep a list of lost and found items that he had announced,” Bell explains. This also included helping lost children reunite with their family. “Town criers would make an announcement and describe the child,” Gordon says.
To earn a little extra income, many town criers in America belted out advertisements. “If your village was getting a shipment of something, they would make announcements for merchants, and they would earn a few extra pennies,” Gordon explains. Some specialized in “crying fish,” Bell says, because “that was a perishable product that people would want to buy and sell fast.”
Another one of their official duties was announcing the time of day, before clocks and watches were common. Along the same lines, they were charged with announcing nightly curfews, Gordon says. “The idea was that at, say, 10 o'clock the town crier would come out and announce, ‘It's 10 o'clock and it's time for your kids to be in bed and time for you to lock the doors’ and that kind of stuff,” he says. “It was a security measure, basically.”
The Decline of the Town Crier
By the early 19th century, growing cities, rising literacy rates and increased accessibility to cheap daily newspapers ultimately led to the decline of town criers in the United States. “By 1900, most villages and towns no longer had town criers,” Gordon says.
There were, however, a few professions that took on some of the duties of a town crier. For example, some factories in the United States “would often pay children to sit there and read the newspaper out loud to the workers, because illiteracy rates were high,” Gordon says. Additionally, newsboys who would stand on the corners of cities and towns yelling out headlines and “Read all about it” to sell newspapers were an offshoot of the town crier.
But town criers haven’t disappeared completely. According to one estimation, there are currently 350 town criers around the world, including Lieber who is Sylvania, Ohio’s very first town crier, and has held the volunteer role for 30 years.
Lieber does around 70 to 80 ceremonial events each year. “I do proclamations [and] special announcements,” he says. “I announce dignitaries coming in. I lead the parades. I've been to Europe, Australia [and] all through Canada representing our country, basically, as a diplomat. I do weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and funerals—a little bit of everything.”
