The News

As Columbus grew throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, so did the masthead of its largest daily newspaper. The Columbus Dispatch has presented opportunities for countless journalists over time, both as a home for awardwinning and impactful articles and as a rung on the ladder for many legendary careers.

James Thurber at his former desk, 1942

Early in his career, James Thurber covered the City Hall beat for the paper from 1920 to 1924. While he resisted city editor Gus Kuehner’s zealous cuts to his copy, the author later recalled that his time at The Dispatch was “the most valuable training I have ever got, in school or out, for a life of literary crime in the future, if any.”

Josephine Thrall

In 1898, Josephine Thrall was hired as Society section editor for the Evening Dispatch, becoming the first woman writer employed by the paper. Daughter of the Carey Times publisher in Carey, OH, Thrall’s journalistic career included editing stints at OSU’s The Lantern and later the Findlay Daily Courier.

Ralph Waldo Tyler

Ralph Waldo Tyler began his career at the Dispatch and The Ohio State Journal in 1887, working first as secretary to publisher William D. Brickell and later as a politics and industry beat writer. After serving as Theodore Roosevelt’s appointed auditor to the Navy Department, Tyler was the first Black war correspondent to cover World War I.

Some writers, like Carl DeBloom and Graydon Hambrick, became synonymous with the paper during their long tenures. Others like Ralph Waldo Tyler and Jill Riepenhoff challenged orthodoxies and broke major stories through tireless reporting. Too many journalists have left their mark on The Dispatch to mention, but a selection of significant figures from the paper’s history are presented here.

Jill Riepenhoff

Jill Riepenhoff joined the Dispatch in 1985, and became one of its most decorated investigative reporters in her 32-year career at the paper. Hers and Jennifer Smith Richard’s 2007 series “The ABCs of Betrayal” on flaws in the state’s discipline system for educators won the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists’ award for Best Defense of the First Amendment among several other accolades, and prompted legislators to revise Ohio law.

Carl DeBloom, 1958

North High School graduate Carl DeBloom started his 46-year career at the Dispatch in 1935. He started the paper’s Washington bureau in 1960 and later served as Vice President Spiro Agnew’s press secretary. His coverage of the ’60 and ’64 presidential campaigns were the first such reporting that the paper published on its own.

Graydon Hambrick

Graydon Hambrick was a feature writer at the Dispatch from 1967-1994, covering politics, Columbus City Schools, and The Ohio State University. As Action Line section editor, Hambrick raised the profile of consumer issues submitted by readers and in 1979, his and Lee Stratton’s four-part series on mental health services in Ohio earned him an Achievement in Journalism award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Straw Poll box

This straw vote box was used for many years the Dispatch’s early election season polling, which almost always predicted the winner of the election.