Early Columbus and Ohio Newspapers

Northwest Territory in 1793

When the Centinel of the North-Western Territory was first published only a few non-indigenous settlements existed, with Cincinnati being one of them. Most of the Ohio Country was populated by indigenous people, as shown in this map.

Franklin Common Press

William Maxwell used a press very similar to the press that Benjamin Franklin used. He had the press transported over the mountains on horses and shipped from Pittsburgh on a packet boat.

Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Museum of American History

Open to All

The Centinel of the North-Western Territory differed from many early newspapers in that it did not advocate for a certain political party. The newspaper focused on world events, local events, and had very little advertising.

Image courtesy of the Ohio History Connection

The first newspaper published in what is now Ohio was the Centinel of the North-Western Territory. The first issue was printed in a log cabin in Cincinnati on November 9, 1793 by William Maxwell, who was originally from New Jersey. The motto of the paper was “Open to all parties but influenced by none.” In addition to printing his fourpage newspaper, Maxwell also printed the first book in Ohio in 1796, Laws of the Territory of the United States North-West of the Ohio, a 250-page book with 1,000 copies printed. In the same year, he sold his newspaper to Edmund Freeman, who changed the name of the newspaper to Freeman’s Journal. Freeman moved the newspaper to Chillicothe in 1801 and passed away soon after moving. The newspaper was subsequently purchased by Nathaniel Willis. Willis was a Boston native and a participant in the Boston Tea Party, as well as a printing apprentice to Benjamin Franklin. Upon purchase of Freeman’s Journal, Willis merged the paper with the Scioto Gazette, a newspaper which Willis founded in 1800. The newspaper is still published today as the Chillicothe Gazette.

James Kilbourne

Kilbourne came from Connecticut and settled in Worthington in 1803. He published the first newspaper in Franklin County in 1811. He also served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1813-1817.

In Franklin County, the first newspaper published was the Western Intelligencer in Worthington. Colonel James Kilbourne printed his first issue on July 17, 1811, with Joel Buttles and George Smith as his business partners. The principal purpose of the newspaper was to prop up Worthington to become the capital of Ohio. When this did not occur, the paper was moved to Columbus in 1814. Joel Buttles became the business manager and Ezra Griswold took over as editor when the paper was renamed the Western Intelligencer and Columbus Gazette in 1814. In 1816, P.H. Olmstead became the sole owner of the newspaper and shortened the name to the Columbus Gazette. The newspaper was eventually sold to George Nashee and John Bailhache and changed names once again to the Ohio State Journal and Columbus Gazette.

Spahr Building

Beginning in 1897, this building at 50 E. Broad St. was the home to the Ohio State Journal. The journal was the most popular newspaper in Columbus before The Columbus Dispatch was founded. The journal published for over 170 years under various names.

Columbus Citizen Building

The Citizen building was built in 1910 at 34 N. Third St. It served as the home of the Columbus Citizen before the paper merged with the Ohio State Journal in 1959.

The newspaper continued as the Ohio State Journal from 1840-1959 when the journal merged with the Columbus Citizen to become the Columbus Citizen-Journal. The Columbus Citizen was an established evening paper founded in 1899. It became a Scripps publication in 1904 and published as the Columbus Citizen-Journal from 1959-1985.