The paper was founded on August 22, 1924, as theLakeland Evening Ledger. In 1927, it bought its main competitor, the morningLakeland Star-Telegram. By 1930, it was obvious that Lakeland could not support two papers, so Ledger Publishing Company merged the two papers into a single morning paper, theLakeland Ledger and Star-Telegram. In 1941,Star-Telegram was dropped from the masthead, and in 1967 the name was shortened to simplyThe Ledger.
Jerome Ferson became publisher of the newspaper on July 30, 2007.Kevin Drake became publisher of the newspaper on January 21, 2014.[4] In October 2016, Drake leftThe Ledger to return to his hometown ofSpartanburg, South Carolina, to work as a group publisher forGateHouse Media.[5]
Brian Burns, former publisher ofThe Tampa Tribune, joinedThe Ledger as publisher on January 25, 2017.[6] He departed the newspaper July 25, 2019.[7] No new publisher had been named as of October 2021.[citation needed]
Louis M. "Skip" Perez has been The Ledger's longest-serving chief news executive, holding the position of Executive Editorfrom 1981 to 2011.
