Corvallis Gazette-Times

Last updated
Corvallis Gazette-Times
The daily gazette-times December 31 1909.jpg
Gazette-Times in 1909
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) Lee Enterprises
Founder(s)T. B. Odeneal
PresidentDave Cuddihy
EditorPenny Rosenberg [1]
FoundedDecember 1863 (1863-12), as The Corvallis Gazette
Headquarters600 SW Lyon Street
P.O. Box 130
Albany, Oregon 97330
United States
Circulation 11,240 Daily
8,306 Sunday(as of 2022) [2]
ISSN 0746-3995
OCLC number 10012551
Website gazettetimes.com

The Corvallis Gazette-Times is a daily newspaper for Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The newspaper, along with its sister publication, the Albany Democrat-Herald of neighboring Albany, Oregon, is owned by Lee Enterprises of Davenport, Iowa. [1]

Contents

The paper in its current form was created in 1909 as the result of the merger of two competing weekly newspapers, The Corvallis Gazette (established 1863), and The Corvallis Times (established 1888).

Starting June 27, 2023, the print edition of the Gazette-Times will be reduced to three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Also, the newspaper will transition from being delivered by a traditional newspaper delivery carrier to mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service. [3]

History

Early Benton County newspapers

In 1854, during the political infighting over where to locate the seat of Oregon state government, Corvallis was briefly chosen by the legislature as state capital. [4] As a result, pugnacious Democrat Asahel Bush, then serving as Territorial printer, moved his weekly Oregon Statesman from Salem to Corvallis to be close to legislative newsmakers. [4] The tenure of the paper in Corvallis, like that of the state capital, was brief and fleeting and soon the town was left with no paper of its own.

Town founder Joseph C. Avery, himself a Democratic partisan, sought to fill the void with a new paper. He purchased press, type, and supplies and hired a small staff to launch a new publication called the Occidental Messenger in 1857. [4] This short-lived publication was followed by a series of others which briefly glimmered and vanished like fireflies, including the Expositor, the Benton Democrat, and the Benton County Blade. [5]

Two publications did manage to gain traction in Corvallis and Benton County, however — The Corvallis Gazette, a Republican paper established in December 1863, and the Benton Leader, a Democratic weekly, launched in 1882. [5]

The Corvallis Gazette

The Corvallis Gazette was launched in December 1863, during the midst of the American Civil War by T. B. Odeneal. [5] The paper was initially operated as a weekly, with publication taking place each Saturday. [5] In February 1866, Odeneal was joined on the staff by William B. Carter, who assumed complete control of the paper in July of that same year, transforming it into an organ of the Oregon division of the International Organization of Good Templars. [5]

Under Carter's editorship the Gazette became a leading voice for prohibition. [5] This general orientation continued until March 1870, when a new ownership group took control of the paper, making Samuel L. Simpson the new editor of the paper. [5] Simpson immediately noted the change in an editorial, writing:

Temperance ceases to be the speciality of this paper, as, in fact, it is not the forte of the present editor..... Right here the bright habiliments of neutrality are laid aside forever, and wheeling into line the good champion of prohibition goes down in the smoke and fury of political war. [5]

This third iteration of the paper would become a vigorous partisan supporter of the agenda of the Republican Party. [5] Carter would soon return to the editorial chair, with the paper's new political line unaltered. [5]

In January 1876, the size of the Gazette was enlarged and in December of that same year the publication was made into a corporation, with editor William Carter one of the three incorporators. [5] Carter's supremacy would end with his death in 1880, with fellow incorporator James A. Yantis taking over the operation of the publication until its eventual sale to M. S. Woodcock in May 1881. [5]

In 1885, Corvallis pioneer Bushrod Washington Wilson and two other investors established the Gazette Publishing Company, which purchased the Corvallis Gazette from its previous publisher, M. S. Woodcock, on December 25. [6] This holding company published the paper for only one year before selling the paper again, this time to Frank Conover. [7]

Later editors of the paper included W. P. Keady, later Speaker of Oregon House of Representatives in the Oregon Legislative Assembly; Will H. Parry who later founded the Capital Journal in Salem, Oregon; and later Springer, who launched the Gazette's daily edition in 1909.

The Gazette was known briefly as a The Union Gazette following its 1899 merger with the Oregon Union which had been founded in 1897. The Union portion of the name was soon dropped. (A previous Corvallis newspaper called Union, published in the 1860s, was not affiliated. It was suppressed following the Civil War. [8] [9] )

The Corvallis Times

The Times traces its lineage first to the founding of The Corvallis Chronicle in 1886. During the 1880s the construction of the Oregon Pacific Railroad dominated local politics in Corvallis and surrounding Benton County. The Gazette's owners, M.S. Woodcock, A.P. Churchill and Wallace Baldwin, who had taken over the paper in 1884 were closely allied with the interests of the railroad.

Gazette editor C.A. Cole, was according to one account fired for refusing to obey instructions of the paper's owners to support a Democratic, pro-railroad candidate for state senator. He lost his job the day after the election. Wishing to explain to the community why he had been fired, Cole secured permission to publish an issue under the condition that the proofs first be submitted for approval by a railroad representative. Cole never did submit the proofs for approval.

Republicans, sensing opportunity, decided to finance another paper. The Corvallis Chronicle debuted as a weekly paper published on Fridays in 1886, with Cole as its editor. The paper did not succeed and soon folded.

In 1888, a local businessman, Robert Johnson, who had previously worked as city editor of The Gazette, bought the Chronicle's printing press and assets at a sheriff's auction. He launched The Corvallis Times with the slogan "Independent, Fearless and Free." Johnson operated The Times until 1893, when he sold it to Benjamin Franklin Irvine, a telegraph operator for the railroad. Irvine acquired another area newspaper The Benton Leader, founded in 1882 with The Times.

The Gazette and Times combine

The events leading to the combination of Corvallis' two major newspapers began in 1908.

The Times was operated by N.R. Moore, who had leased the paper from B.F. Irvine, who had left Corvallis to write editorials for the Oregon Journal in Portland, Oregon. The Gazette was under the direction of Charles L. Springer, formerly of Montesano, Washington and owned by M.S. Woodcock, a prominent Benton County lawyer and businessman who later opened a successful bank in the county, and later served as Corvallis Mayor. According to historical accounts, they decided on the name Gazette-Times after a coin toss.

Springer had come to town and purchased the Gazette and on May 1, 1909, published its first daily edition. It had four pages and five columns. Moore also had plans to launch a daily edition. Still, neither Springer, nor Moore had sufficient resources to publish a daily newspaper over the long term. They agreed to consolidate, and flipped a coin to decide the name. The first issue of The Gazette-Times appeared on July 2, 1909.

Claude Ingalls, who came to Corvallis from Washington, Kansas, bought out Springer's share in the paper in 1915. Myron K. Myers bought out Moore's share in 1923. Myers' son, Bruce, later shared ownership with Ingalls' son, Robert C. Ingalls. They assumed the top positions at the paper when their fathers retired in 1950. [10]

Charles A. Sprague, originally from Kansas, spent some time (from 1925-1929) as one-third owner of the Corvallis Gazette-Times before moving to Salem and becoming part owner of the Oregon Statesman there. [11]

Lee Enterprises bought the newspaper on October 1, 1969, and continues to operate it to the present day.

The Philomath Express

On September 23, 2020, The Philomath Express published its last weekly edition. It is now accessed through a community website at the Gazette-Times online edition. [12] [13]

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Corvallis Gazette-Times". Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association . Retrieved 2022-12-16.
  2. ↑ Lee Enterprises. "Form 10-K". investors.lee.net. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  3. ↑ Rosenberg, Penny (2023-05-28). "Your expanded Gazette-Times and Democrat-Herald coming soon". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Archived from the original on 2023-06-10. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
  4. 1 2 3 Fagan 1885, p. 439.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Fagan 1885, p. 440.
  6. ↑ Martin 1938, p. 281.
  7. ↑ Martin 1938, pp. 281–282.
  8. ↑ McKay, Floyd J. "Civil War, Newspaper Suppression". The Oregon Encyclopedia.
  9. ↑ Turnbull, George Stanley (1939). "Benton County"  . History of Oregon Newspapers. Binfords & Mort. pp. 225–234 – via Wikisource.
  10. ↑ Novak, Theresa (7 March 2009). "Gazette-Times nears 100th birthday". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  11. ↑ "Charles Sprague (1887-1969)" . Retrieved 2020-08-17.
  12. ↑ "Farewell to the Philomath Express". Albany Democrat-Herald. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  13. ↑ Mann, Cody (2 October 2020). "Philomath Express Closes Shop". The Corvallis Advocate. Retrieved 13 October 2020.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corvallis, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Corvallis is a city and the seat of government of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 59,922. Corvallis is the location of Oregon State University and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Corvallis is the westernmost city in the contiguous 48 states with a population larger than 50,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benton County, Oregon</span> County in Oregon, United States

Benton County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 95,184. Its county seat is Corvallis. The county was named after Thomas Hart Benton, a U.S. Senator who advocated American control over the Oregon Country. Benton County is designated as the Corvallis, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Portland–Vancouver–Salem, OR–WA Combined Statistical Area. It is in the Willamette Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philomath, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Philomath is a city in Benton County, Oregon, United States. It was named for Philomath College. The population was 4,584 at the 2010 census and was most recently estimated in 2019 to have a population of 5,666. It is part of the Corvallis, Oregon, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<i>Albany Democrat-Herald</i>

The Albany Democrat-Herald is a daily newspaper published in Albany, Oregon, United States. The paper is owned by the Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, a firm which also owns the daily Corvallis Gazette-Times, published in the adjacent market of Corvallis, Oregon, as well as two weeklies, the Lebanon Express and the Philomath Express. The two daily papers publish a joint Sunday edition, called Mid-Valley Sunday.

Nicholas F. "Nick" Benton is the founder, owner, and editor of the Falls Church News-Press, a weekly newspaper distributed free in Falls Church, Virginia, and in parts of Fairfax County, and Arlington County.

Joseph Conant Avery was the founder of Corvallis, Oregon. Avery was the first postmaster for the community, and served as a legislator in the Provisional Government of Oregon and the government of the Oregon Territory. Avery House at Oregon State University was named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfred C. Bleamaster</span> American football and basketball coach (1881–1973)

Wilfred Charles Bleamaster was an American football and basketball coach. He served as the head football coach at Carroll College—now Carroll University—in Waukesha, Wisconsin from 1909 to 1911, Alma College from 1912 to 1915, and the University of Idaho from 1916 to 1917, and Albany College—now known as Lewis & Clark College—from 1926 to 1927. Bleamaster was also the head basketball coach at Alma from 1912 to 1916 and at Idaho for the 1918–19 season, tallying a career college basketball mark of 28–29.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corvallis-Benton County Public Library</span> Public library in Corvallis, Oregon, US

The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library is a public library located in the American city of Corvallis, Oregon. The library's motto is "Enrich, excite, explore!" It is part of a city-county system with branches in Alsea, Monroe, and Philomath as well as a bookmobile.

The Beaverton Valley Times, also known as the Valley Times, is a weekly newspaper covering the city of Beaverton, Oregon, United States, and adjacent unincorporated areas in the northern part of the Tualatin Valley. Owned since 2000 by the Pamplin Media Group, the paper was established in 1921. Currently based in neighboring Portland, the Valley Times is printed each Thursday.

The Hunterdon County Democrat is a weekly newspaper that serves Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Currently owned by Penn Jersey Advance, Inc., its offices are in Raritan Township. It is one of the largest paid weekly newspapers in New Jersey, with an estimated total circulation of more than 21,000. It is published every Thursday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Buren Street Bridge</span> Bridge in Corvallis, Oregon

The Van Buren Street Bridge is a swing span, steel motor vehicle bridge spanning the Willamette River at Corvallis in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 1913, the black colored bridge was the first bridge across the river at Corvallis and is now the third oldest bridge across the river. Owned by the state and maintained by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), the 708-foot (216 m) long span is of a through truss design and carries one lane of traffic of Oregon Route 34 eastbound from Corvallis into neighboring Linn County. The bridge no longer is able to swing open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotel Benton</span> United States historic place

The Hotel Benton, or Benton Hotel, is a historic former hotel in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. Constructed from 1924 to 1925, the building represents a distinctive example of the Italian Renaissance style by Portland architects Houghtaling and Dougan. It is one of several Oregon buildings the firm designed in the revival styles popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Children's Farm Home School</span> United States historic place

The Children's Farm Home School is a former school building on U.S. Route 20 in Oregon between Corvallis and Albany; it is located on a 300-acre (120 ha) campus now owned by Trillium Family Services.

The Willamette Valley & Coast Railroad (WV&C) was a small 19th-century railway line in the American state of Oregon which sought to cross the Coast Mountain Range to connect the agriculturally oriented Willamette Valley with international shipping at Yaquina Bay. Following three false starts during the ten years after the American Civil War, the railway was launched in July 1874. Work was completed on the valley-to-coast road in 1884. The line is today operated by Portland and Western Railroad.

The New Era is a newspaper in Sweet Home in the U.S. state of Oregon. It has been published weekly since its inception in 1929, and covers east Linn County. News historian George S. Turnbull opined in his 1939 History of Oregon Newspapers that despite the city's small size, the paper had been "lively and well made up."

The Portland Bee was a Republican newspaper in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon in the late 19th century. It was launched in November 1875, the same year as the Portland Daily Bulletin disincorporated; like the Bulletin, it had both daily and weekly editions. It initially had two daily editions, and circulated 1,000 free copies.

Journalism in the U.S. state of Oregon had its origins from the American settlers of the Oregon Country in the 1840s. This was decades after explorers like Robert Gray and Lewis and Clark first arrived in the region, several months before the first newspaper was issued in neighboring California, and several years before the United States formally asserted control of the region by establishing the Oregon Territory.

References

Microfilm availability

44°33′47″N123°15′57″W / 44.563096°N 123.265839°W / 44.563096; -123.265839

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.