| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Ouray County Newspapers |
| Publisher | David Mullings |
| Editor | Patrick Davarn |
| Founded | 1877 |
| Headquarters | 302 Sixth Avenue, PO Box 607 Ouray, Colorado 81427 United States |
| Circulation | 1,850 Weekly |
| Official website | ouraynews.com |
The Ouray County Plaindealer is a weekly newspaper based in Ouray, Colorado and owned by Ouray County Newspapers. It is the newspaper of record for the city and county of Ouray.
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The Plaindealer was founded as the Ouray Times, publishing its first edition June 23, 1877. It published weekly until 1886, when it was renamed the Ouray Budget and ran alternately as a weekly and a daily. In 1888, a new owner changed the name to the Ouray Plaindealer.
The Plaindealer consolidated with rival newspaper San Juan Silverite in 1892, becoming known as the Silverite Plaindealer, which published daily until 1898. It then published weekly until 1901, when it dropped the Silverite part of its name.
In 1922, the Plaindealer again consolidated, this time with another rival, the Ouray Herald, to become the Ouray Herald and Plaindealer. That name stuck until 1939, when it became simply the Ouray County Herald. Finally, in 1969, the Herald was renamed the Ouray County Plaindealer, a name that has been kept since.
Since 1980, the Ridgway Sun and Ouray County Plaindealer have been published by the same publishing company, currently known as Ouray County Newspapers.
In a statement published in the Plaindealer's print editions, the paper's goals are described:
The Plaindealer is a frequent winner of Colorado Press Association awards in its class, and in 2007 Publisher David Mullings received the state’s “Service to the First” (Amendment) award. He was recognized for initiating action against the Ouray County Board of County Commissioners that resulted in an open process of selecting planning commissioners, and for enduring sharp and anonymous attacks on the newspaper and his credibility for the challenge.