Intelligencer Journal

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The 2008-04-23 frontpage of the Intelligencer Journal.
Type Daily, morning
Format Broadsheet
Owner Steinman family
Publisher Lancaster Newspapers, Inc
Editor Charles Raymond Shaw
Founded 1794-06-17
Political allegiance Democratic
Price 50¢ daily
$2.85 weekly
Headquarters 8 West King Street,
Lancaster, PA 17605
Flag of the United States United States
Circulation 44,000
ISSN 0889-4140

The Intelligencer Journal, known locally as the Intell, is the daily, morning newspaper published by Lancaster Newspapers, Inc in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is the 7th oldest newspaper in the United States and one of the oldest newspapers to be continually published under the same name. The Intelligencer Journal's editorial page generally leans to the Democratic/ liberal perspective.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

The Lancaster Journal, was founded on 1794-06-17 by William Hamilton and Henry Wilcocks as a 4-page, weekly newspaper.[2] In 1800, Hamilton politically aligned the Journal with the Federalists after buying out Wilcocks and receiving backing from Robert Coleman. In 1799, William Dickson founded a rival paper, the Jeffersonian Lancaster Intelligencer and Weekly Advertiser. In 1820, John Reynolds (father of the Civil War general) succeeded Hamilton and turned the Journal into a Jacksonian paper. After a fire in 1811 and Dickson's death in 1823, popularity of the Intelligencer began to diminish.

[edit] Forney and Steinman

In 1837, John W. Forney took over the Intelligencer and "turned it around".[2] In September 1839, Forney bought the Journal merged it with the Intelligencer making the Intelligencer and Journal. After Forney left Lancaster in 1845, George Sanderson ran the paper and used it to become mayor of Lancaster. During the Civil War, circulation fell due to the Intelligencer and Journal's anti-Republican tone. In August 1864, the paper was changed from a weekly to a daily, evening paper. By the end of the war, ciruculation was down to only a few hundred.[2] In 1866, Andrew Jackson Steinman reluctantly took control of the paper, with co-owner Henry Smith and attorney William Uhler Hensel actually running the paper. In 1886, Hensel retired and Steinman's nephew Charles Steinman Foltz took his place. On 1909-07-01, Steinman and Foltz started the non-partisan Lancaster Morning Journal, which they merged with the Morning News creating the News Journal. Steinman's sons, John Frederick Steinman and James Hale Steinman, took over the papers in 1917 after the death of their father.

[edit] Newspaper war

In 1923, Paul Block, Sr. (founder of Block Communications) bought the Intelligencer's rival paper, the Lancaster New Era and "vowed to put the Intelligencer and the News Journal out of business".[2] Block added a daily, four-page, colored comics section to the New Era. The Steinmans lowered advertising rates and started the Sunday News, the first local Sunday newspaper. Circulation of the Intelligencer increased from 6,000 to 30,000 in early 1927.[2] The Steinmans then built a new five-story building for the paper on West King Steet to show that "they were here to stay".[2]. In 1928, Block announce his surrender and offered the New Era to the Steinmans. They bought the New Era and merged the Intelligencer with the New Journal to create the Intelligencer Journal.

[edit] "Intelligencer Journal March"

In 1951, George W. Luttenberger, a local bandleader, musician, and composer, wrote the "Intelligencer Journal March."[3] Up until the 1960s, the march was played by American military bands,[3] but eventually it fell out of favor.[3] The march was lost until a copy of the sheet music was found in Library of Congress on microfilm.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lancaster, PA Newspapers. Franklin & Marshall College (2005-02-04). Retrieved on 2008-02-11.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Hawkes, Jeff. "Intelligencer Journal's history...", Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster Newspapers, Inc, 1994-06-17, pp. A1-A4. 
  3. ^ a b c d Delaney, Gil. "The 'Intelligencer Journal March'", Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster Newspapers, Inc, 1994-06-17, pp. A7. 

[edit] External links