 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Lee Enterprises |
| Founder | T. B. Odeneal |
| President | Matt Sandberg |
| Editor | Penny Rosenberg[1] |
| Founded | December 1863 (1863-12), asThe Corvallis Gazette |
| Headquarters | 600 SW Lyon Street P.O. Box 130 Albany, Oregon 97330 United States |
| Circulation | 7,020 Daily (as of 2023)[2] |
| Sister newspapers | Albany Democrat-Herald |
| ISSN | 0746-3995 |
| OCLC number | 10012551 |
| Website | gazettetimes |
TheCorvallis Gazette-Times is a daily newspaper forCorvallis, Oregon, United States. The newspaper, along with its sister publication, theAlbany Democrat-Herald of neighboringAlbany, Oregon, is owned byLee Enterprises ofDavenport, Iowa.[1]
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), andThe Corvallis Times (established 1888).
Starting June 27, 2023, the print edition of theGazette-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][4]
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.[5] As a result, pugnaciousDemocratAsahel Bush, then serving as Territorial printer, moved his weeklyOregon Statesman from Salem to Corvallis to be close to legislative newsmakers.[5] 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 founderJoseph 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 theOccidental Messenger in 1857.[5] This short-lived publication was followed by a series of others which briefly glimmered and vanished like fireflies, including theExpositor, theBenton Democrat, and theBenton County Blade.[6]
Two publications did manage to gain traction in Corvallis and Benton County, however —The Corvallis Gazette, aRepublican paper established in December 1863, and theBenton Leader, a Democratic weekly, launched in 1882.[6]
TheCorvallis Gazette was launched in December 1863, during the midst of theAmerican Civil War byT. B. Odeneal.[6] The paper was initially operated as a weekly, with publication taking place each Saturday.[6] The first two volumes of the paper had already gone missing by 1885 and exact details of its origin are consequently lost.[7]
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 theInternational Organization of Good Templars.[6]
Under Carter's editorship theGazette became a leading voice forprohibition.[6] 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.[6] 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.[6]
This third iteration of the paper would become a vigorous partisan supporter of the agenda of the Republican Party.[6] Carter would soon return to the editorial chair, with the paper's new political line unaltered.[6]
In January 1876, the size of theGazette 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.[6] 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 toM. S. Woodcock in May 1881.[6]
In 1885, Corvallis pioneerBushrod Washington Wilson and two other investors established the Gazette Publishing Company, which purchased theCorvallis Gazette from its previous publisher, Woodcock, on December 25.[8] This holding company published the paper for only one year before selling the paper again, this time toFrank Conover.[9]
Later editors of the paper includedW. P. Keady, later Speaker ofOregon House of Representatives in theOregon Legislative Assembly; Will H. Parry who later founded theCapital Journal inSalem, Oregon; and later Springer, who launched the Gazette's daily edition in 1909.
The Gazette was known briefly as aThe Union Gazette following its 1899 merger with theOregon Union which had been founded in 1897. TheUnion portion of the name was soon dropped. (A previous Corvallis newspaper calledUnion, published in the 1860s, was not affiliated. It wassuppressed following theCivil War.[10][11]
TheTimes traces its lineage first to the founding ofThe Corvallis Chronicle in 1886. During the 1880s the construction of theOregon Pacific Railroad dominated local politics in Corvallis and surrounding Benton County. TheGazette'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 ofThe Gazette, bought theChronicle's printing press and assets at a sheriff's auction. He launchedThe Corvallis Times with the slogan "Independent, Fearless and Free." Johnson operatedThe Times until 1893 when he sold it to Benjamin Franklin Irvine, a telegraph operator for the railroad. Irvine acquired another area newspaperThe Benton Leader, founded in 1882 withThe Times.[11]
The events leading to the combination of Corvallis' two major newspapers began in 1908.
TheTimes was operated by N.R. Moore, who had leased the paper from B.F. Irvine, who had left Corvallis to write editorials for theOregon Journal inPortland, Oregon. TheGazette was under the direction of Charles L. Springer, formerly ofMontesano, Washington and owned by M.S. Woodcock, a prominentBenton 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 nameGazette-Times after a coin toss.[11]
Springer had come to town and purchased theGazette and published its first daily edition on May 1, 1909. 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 ofThe Gazette-Times appeared on July 2, 1909.[11]
Claude Ingalls, who came to Corvallis fromWashington, 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.[12]
Charles A. Sprague, originally from Kansas, spent some time (from 1925-1929) as one-third owner of theCorvallis Gazette-Times before moving to Salem and becoming part owner of theOregon Statesman there.[13]
Lee Enterprises bought the newspaper on October 1, 1969,[14] and continues to operate it to the present day.
On September 23, 2020,The Philomath Express published its last weekly edition. It is now accessed through a community website at theGazette-Times online edition.[15] The paper operated for nearly six years and was managed by Brad Fuqua throughout its lifespan. It was published by theGazette-Times's owner Lee Enterprises.[16]
44°33′47″N123°15′57″W / 44.563096°N 123.265839°W /44.563096; -123.265839
