The Western Star
Encyclopedia
The Western Star is Ohio
's oldest weekly newspaper
and second oldest of any sort after the daily Chillicothe Gazette
. It is published Thursdays by Cox Media Ohio Group, the communications company founded by former Ohio Governor James Middleton Cox. The Western Star -- which for most of its history was a paid-circulation paper and now has a free circulation of 15,115 each week, according to the Ohio Newspaper Association -- is also the oldest paper bearing its original name published west of the Appalachian Mountains
. It is currently circulated in selected areas of the Lebanon and Wayne school districts. On June 23, 2011, the newspaper announced that, after 204 years in Lebanon, Warren County, it was moving its offices out of Lebanon to Liberty Township, Butler County, in a consolidation of Cox Media Group Ohio publications.
(1785-1861), who eventually became an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. For a century, no copy was known of the first issue, the paper itself lacking a copy. However, one eventually was found in the archives of the American Antiquarian Society
in Worcester, Massachusetts
.
McLean sold the paper in 1810 to his brother, Nathaniel McLean. Over the next four years, Nathaniel partnered successively with the Rev. Adjet McGuire, Samuel H. Hale, Henry Lazier, Joseph Henderson, and William Blackburn. In 1814, Nathaniel sold his interest to his brother William McLean (1794-1863) who published it with Blackburn until 1816, when Blackburn departed.
In 1817, William McLean sold to Abram Van Vleet, a justice of the peace
, and John Eddy (1762-1824). Later that year they took on William A. Camron (died 1838) as a partner. Eddy left that year, replaced by a man named Cunningham who did not last the year. In 1825, Van Vleet and Eddy sold to Anthony Howard Dunlavy, an attorney who served in the Ohio General Assembly
and as Warren County prosecutor, and William A. Sellers, a member of the General Assembly in 1838. In 1827, they sold the paper to Camron and Jacob Morris, who was married to Dunlavy's sister and later was Warren County treasurer. In 1828, Camron sold to Dunlavy, who was partners with his brother-in-law until 1829 when Morris assumed sole control. Morris took on an apprentice circa 1830, William H. P. Denny
. He became Morris's partner, and in 1834, sole owner.
In 1858, Denny sold his interest and left town. The new owner was Dr. James Scott, who served in the Ohio General Assembly
, followed by William H. Corwin, son of the founder of Lebanon, and, by the late 1860s, Seth W. Brown, an attorney who later served as Warren County prosecutor. The paper at this time was a Republican journal.
On January 19, 1871, Brown sold to William C. McClintock
(born 1845) and Clements Hardy. McClintock assumed sole ownership on January 16, 1873. He published the paper, then a seven-column quarto, and introduced steam printing presses. He owned the paper until circa 1893 when ownership was assumed by a corporation, the Western Star Publishing Company, which was controlled by McClintock until 1907, when John M. Mulford took over and owned it until 1921. In May 1902, a linotype machine
to set type was introduced. On September 6, 1923, the Brown Publishing Company, the company owned by Congressman Clarence J. Brown
, bought the paper and owned it until 1998.
Brown's first act was to appoint as editor and publisher Gardner H. Townsley (circa 1897-1967), whose claim to fame was having been the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale
's college roommate. He expanded the paper from twelve to sixteen pages. He subsequently served as publisher over a succession of editors: Warren Nelson, Ed Thompson, Jamyes Myers, and David Schneider. Townsley served as publisher until his death.
His son Robert N. Townsley (died April 17, 1994) replaced him as publisher, with Schneider continuing as editor. In October 1968, Townsley was replaced by William Kreeger, who had the title "general manager" until March 1970 when he was named publisher. Janet Goode became editor in January 1970 and served until October of that year when she was replaced by John Nichols. Nichols served until August 1971 when Joe Falter became editor. Falter served until he retired in 1994, and Thomas Barr served as editor from 1994 until 2008. In 1990, Fred Gibson became publisher and served until the paper's sale in 1998.
In the 1998, Brown traded The Western Star along with the Star Press in Springboro
, Today's Express in Morrow
, the Monroe
Times, and the Miamisburg
-West Carrollton
News to The Thomson Corporation, a Canadian newspaper company known for the poor quality of its publications, in exchange for three daily papers, the Piqua
Daily Call, the Xenia
Daily Gazette, and the Greenville
Daily Advocate. When the company decided to exit the newspaper business, Thomson sold The Western Star to Cox on September 1, 2000, though only after Thomson's original plans to sell the paper to Gannett, owner of The Cincinnati Enquirer, fell apart. Edwina Blackwell Clark is the current publisher of The Western Star and Jen Roppel is the current editor.
Since 1991, the paper has issued a free Sunday edition, although as of several years ago it has been exclusively advertising. Under Cox it surrendered its second class mailing permit, ceased its distribution in the southern part of Warren County, and began to be distributed free to homes in Lebanon and Turtlecreek Township
. The paper presently does not take a political stance and does not run editorials. The Western Star's Thursday edition is now circulated only in selected areas in the Lebanon and Wayne school districts.
. Effective with the issue of Saturday, August 17, 1822 it assumed the name The Western Star and Lebanon Gazette, continuing under that name until Saturday, June 12, 1824. With the issue of Saturday, June 19, 1824, it shortened its name to the Star and Gazette, continuing under that name until the issue of Monday, September 5, 1825.
With the issue of Monday, September 13, 1825, it went back to the old name, The Western Star and Lebanon Gazette and published under that title until the issue of Saturday, July 26, 1828. Effective Saturday, August 2, 1828, the name was shortened back to The Western Star and continued until Thursday, October 27, 1859. With the issue of Thursday, November 3, 1859, the titled changed to The Weekly Western Star. By 1866, the word weekly was dropped but with the issue of Thursday, January 26, 1871, it was once more The Weekly Western Star until Thursday, December 26, 1872. Weekly was once more dropped with the Thursday, January 2, 1873, issue.
It continued under this name until Thursday, February 16, 1893, the paper that week merging with another paper called The Lebanon Gazette
. As of Thursday, February 23, 1893, the paper appeared as The Western Star and Lebanon Gazette until Thursday, January 12, 1899. The title was shortened back to The Western Star effective with the issue of Thursday, January 19, 1899 and continued as a weekly until the issue of Thursday, August 29, 1935. The following Monday, September 2, 1935, the paper began a brief existence as a daily, publishing every day except Sundays. This continued to Thursday, December 31, 1936. The following week it resumed its existence as a weekly with the issue of Thursday, January 7, 1937. That issue also marked a change in the name of the paper to The Western Star and Lebanon Patriot with its absorption of another weekly, The Lebanon Patriot
. The title went back to The Western Star with the issue of Thursday, July 7, 1938.
The paper then switched its publication day to Wednesday but returned to Thursdays circa 2002.
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
's oldest weekly newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
and second oldest of any sort after the daily Chillicothe Gazette
Chillicothe Gazette
The Chillicothe Gazette, Ohio's oldest newspaper, published daily at Chillicothe, Ohio, the seat of Ross County, Ohio, by the Gannett Company. The paper was founded as a weekly at Cincinnati, Ohio, then the capital of the Northwest Territory, November 9, 1793 as the Centinel of the Northwest...
. It is published Thursdays by Cox Media Ohio Group, the communications company founded by former Ohio Governor James Middleton Cox. The Western Star -- which for most of its history was a paid-circulation paper and now has a free circulation of 15,115 each week, according to the Ohio Newspaper Association -- is also the oldest paper bearing its original name published west of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
. It is currently circulated in selected areas of the Lebanon and Wayne school districts. On June 23, 2011, the newspaper announced that, after 204 years in Lebanon, Warren County, it was moving its offices out of Lebanon to Liberty Township, Butler County, in a consolidation of Cox Media Group Ohio publications.
Founding and ownership
It was first published February 13, 1807 by John McLeanJohn McLean
John McLean was an American jurist and politician who served in the United States Congress, as U.S. Postmaster General, and as a justice on the Ohio and U.S...
(1785-1861), who eventually became an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. For a century, no copy was known of the first issue, the paper itself lacking a copy. However, one eventually was found in the archives of the American Antiquarian Society
American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society , located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and national research library of pre-twentieth century American History and culture. Its main building, known also as Antiquarian Hall, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark...
in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
.
McLean sold the paper in 1810 to his brother, Nathaniel McLean. Over the next four years, Nathaniel partnered successively with the Rev. Adjet McGuire, Samuel H. Hale, Henry Lazier, Joseph Henderson, and William Blackburn. In 1814, Nathaniel sold his interest to his brother William McLean (1794-1863) who published it with Blackburn until 1816, when Blackburn departed.
In 1817, William McLean sold to Abram Van Vleet, a justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, and John Eddy (1762-1824). Later that year they took on William A. Camron (died 1838) as a partner. Eddy left that year, replaced by a man named Cunningham who did not last the year. In 1825, Van Vleet and Eddy sold to Anthony Howard Dunlavy, an attorney who served in the Ohio General Assembly
Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate...
and as Warren County prosecutor, and William A. Sellers, a member of the General Assembly in 1838. In 1827, they sold the paper to Camron and Jacob Morris, who was married to Dunlavy's sister and later was Warren County treasurer. In 1828, Camron sold to Dunlavy, who was partners with his brother-in-law until 1829 when Morris assumed sole control. Morris took on an apprentice circa 1830, William H. P. Denny
William H. P. Denny
William H. P. Denny was an American newspaper editor and publisher and politician in Ohio.The son of George Denny, who was a printer on the newspaper, William was apprenticed with The Western Star in Lebanon, Ohio. From circa 1830, he was a partner in the paper and later owned it outright until 1858...
. He became Morris's partner, and in 1834, sole owner.
Ohio General Assembly
The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate...
, followed by William H. Corwin, son of the founder of Lebanon, and, by the late 1860s, Seth W. Brown, an attorney who later served as Warren County prosecutor. The paper at this time was a Republican journal.
On January 19, 1871, Brown sold to William C. McClintock
William C. McClintock
William C. McClintock was an American newspaper editor and publisher who owned The Western Star in Lebanon, Ohio.-Biography:...
(born 1845) and Clements Hardy. McClintock assumed sole ownership on January 16, 1873. He published the paper, then a seven-column quarto, and introduced steam printing presses. He owned the paper until circa 1893 when ownership was assumed by a corporation, the Western Star Publishing Company, which was controlled by McClintock until 1907, when John M. Mulford took over and owned it until 1921. In May 1902, a linotype machine
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
to set type was introduced. On September 6, 1923, the Brown Publishing Company, the company owned by Congressman Clarence J. Brown
Clarence J. Brown
Clarence J. Brown, Sr. was an American newspaper publisher who represented Ohio as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1965.-Life and career:...
, bought the paper and owned it until 1998.
Brown's first act was to appoint as editor and publisher Gardner H. Townsley (circa 1897-1967), whose claim to fame was having been the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale
Norman Vincent Peale
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was a minister and author and a progenitor of the theory of "positive thinking".-Early life and education:...
's college roommate. He expanded the paper from twelve to sixteen pages. He subsequently served as publisher over a succession of editors: Warren Nelson, Ed Thompson, Jamyes Myers, and David Schneider. Townsley served as publisher until his death.
His son Robert N. Townsley (died April 17, 1994) replaced him as publisher, with Schneider continuing as editor. In October 1968, Townsley was replaced by William Kreeger, who had the title "general manager" until March 1970 when he was named publisher. Janet Goode became editor in January 1970 and served until October of that year when she was replaced by John Nichols. Nichols served until August 1971 when Joe Falter became editor. Falter served until he retired in 1994, and Thomas Barr served as editor from 1994 until 2008. In 1990, Fred Gibson became publisher and served until the paper's sale in 1998.
In the 1998, Brown traded The Western Star along with the Star Press in Springboro
Springboro, Ohio
Springboro is an affluent suburb of Cincinnati and Dayton located in Warren and Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is in Warren County's Clearcreek and Franklin Townships and Montgomery County's Miami Township...
, Today's Express in Morrow
Morrow, Ohio
Morrow is a village in Salem Township, Warren County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 1,286, up from 1,206 in 1990...
, the Monroe
Monroe, Ohio
Monroe is a city located in east central Butler and west central Warren counties in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of 2007, the city population was 7,655, up from 4,008 in 1990....
Times, and the Miamisburg
Miamisburg, Ohio
Miamisburg is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,181 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area...
-West Carrollton
West Carrollton, Ohio
West Carrollton is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The population was 13,143 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area....
News to The Thomson Corporation, a Canadian newspaper company known for the poor quality of its publications, in exchange for three daily papers, the Piqua
Piqua, Ohio
Piqua is a city in Miami County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,738 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.Piqua was one of the cities that experienced severe flooding during the Great Dayton Flood of 1913....
Daily Call, the Xenia
Xenia, Ohio
Xenia is a city in and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio 21 miles from Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area...
Daily Gazette, and the Greenville
Greenville, Ohio
Greenville is a city in Darke County, Ohio, United States. The population was 13,227 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Darke County.-History:Greenville is the historic location of Fort Greene Ville,Greenville is a city in Darke County, Ohio, United States. The population was 13,227 at...
Daily Advocate. When the company decided to exit the newspaper business, Thomson sold The Western Star to Cox on September 1, 2000, though only after Thomson's original plans to sell the paper to Gannett, owner of The Cincinnati Enquirer, fell apart. Edwina Blackwell Clark is the current publisher of The Western Star and Jen Roppel is the current editor.
Since 1991, the paper has issued a free Sunday edition, although as of several years ago it has been exclusively advertising. Under Cox it surrendered its second class mailing permit, ceased its distribution in the southern part of Warren County, and began to be distributed free to homes in Lebanon and Turtlecreek Township
Turtlecreek Township, Warren County, Ohio
Turtlecreek Township is one of the eleven townships of Warren County, Ohio, United States. It is in the central part of the county and surrounds the county seat of Lebanon. Turtlecreek is the largest township in the county, originally containing sixty-three whole and seven fractional sections. ...
. The paper presently does not take a political stance and does not run editorials. The Western Star's Thursday edition is now circulated only in selected areas in the Lebanon and Wayne school districts.
Publication history
The paper was first published on Friday, February 13, 1807, under the name The Western Star and continued to Saturday, August 10, 1822, when it merged with another weekly, The Lebanon GazetteThe Lebanon Gazette
The Lebanon Gazette, now defunct, was the name of two weekly newspapers published in Lebanon, Ohio, both of which were absorbed by The Western Star....
. Effective with the issue of Saturday, August 17, 1822 it assumed the name The Western Star and Lebanon Gazette, continuing under that name until Saturday, June 12, 1824. With the issue of Saturday, June 19, 1824, it shortened its name to the Star and Gazette, continuing under that name until the issue of Monday, September 5, 1825.
With the issue of Monday, September 13, 1825, it went back to the old name, The Western Star and Lebanon Gazette and published under that title until the issue of Saturday, July 26, 1828. Effective Saturday, August 2, 1828, the name was shortened back to The Western Star and continued until Thursday, October 27, 1859. With the issue of Thursday, November 3, 1859, the titled changed to The Weekly Western Star. By 1866, the word weekly was dropped but with the issue of Thursday, January 26, 1871, it was once more The Weekly Western Star until Thursday, December 26, 1872. Weekly was once more dropped with the Thursday, January 2, 1873, issue.
It continued under this name until Thursday, February 16, 1893, the paper that week merging with another paper called The Lebanon Gazette
The Lebanon Gazette
The Lebanon Gazette, now defunct, was the name of two weekly newspapers published in Lebanon, Ohio, both of which were absorbed by The Western Star....
. As of Thursday, February 23, 1893, the paper appeared as The Western Star and Lebanon Gazette until Thursday, January 12, 1899. The title was shortened back to The Western Star effective with the issue of Thursday, January 19, 1899 and continued as a weekly until the issue of Thursday, August 29, 1935. The following Monday, September 2, 1935, the paper began a brief existence as a daily, publishing every day except Sundays. This continued to Thursday, December 31, 1936. The following week it resumed its existence as a weekly with the issue of Thursday, January 7, 1937. That issue also marked a change in the name of the paper to The Western Star and Lebanon Patriot with its absorption of another weekly, The Lebanon Patriot
The Lebanon Patriot
The Lebanon Patriot, now defunct, was an American newspaper published weekly at Lebanon, Ohio, the seat of Warren County. The paper was founded by General Durbin Ward as a Democratic paper and first published on January 16, 1868...
. The title went back to The Western Star with the issue of Thursday, July 7, 1938.
The paper then switched its publication day to Wednesday but returned to Thursdays circa 2002.