The Columbus Citizen-Journal - History

History

In 1809, the first printing press in Ohio was set up in Worthington by two New England natives. Two years later, the Worthington Intelligencer was established. Operations were moved to nearby Columbus in 1814 after it became the state's new capital. The newspaper was eventually renamed the Ohio State Journal, and it became the official mouthpiece of the Republican Party in the late 1850s, guided by its editor and proprietor, James M. Comly. Following Comly's military service during the American Civil War, he returned to Columbus and rapidly established the Journal as one of the leading newspapers in Ohio. Through his editorials, Comly is considered by many to have been instrumental in helping Rutherford B. Hayes be elected Governor of Ohio and later, President of the United States. Comly left the paper in 1872 when he was named to a diplomatic post in Hawaii, but his guidance had firmly established its importance in Ohio politics and news reporting. Shortly after the start of the 20th Century, the paper was purchased by the Wolfe family. In 1950, they merged the Ohio State Journal with the Dispatch Printing Company.

The rival Columbus Citizen had been founded in 1899 as an independent newspaper not affiliated with a political party. In 1959, it was merged with the Ohio State Journal to form the Columbus Citizen-Journal.

The Columbus Citizen-Journal was owned by E.W. Scripps Company, as was the Columbus Citizen before it. After the Dispatch decided to end the joint operating agreement, Scripps sold it to a Bath Township (eastern Ohio) businessman, who intended to publish the Columbus Citizen-Journal past January 1, 1986. However, on December 30, 1985, he gave the Journal back to Scripps, which closed the newspaper on December 31, 1985, when the joint operating agreement with Dispatch Printing Company expired. The Dispatch Printing Company subsequently moved The Columbus Dispatch from afternoon publication to morning publication on January 1, 1986.