Corvallis Gazette-Times - The Corvallis Times

The Corvallis Times

The Times traces its lineage first to the founding of The Corvallis Chronicle in 1886. During the 1880s the construction of the Oregon Pacific Railroad dominated local politics in Corvallis and surrounding Benton County. The Gazette's owners, M.S. Woodcock, A.P. Churchill and Wallace Baldwin, who had taken over the paper in 1884 were closely allied with the interests of the railroad.

Gazette editor C.A. Cole, was according to one account fired for refusing to obey instructions of the paper's owners to support a Democratic, pro-railroad candidate for state senator. He lost his job the day after the election. Wishing to explain to the community why he had been fired, Cole secured permission to publish an issue under the condition that the proofs first be submitted for approval by a railroad representative. Cole never did submit the proofs for approval.

Republicans, sensing opportunity, decided to finance another paper. The Corvallis Chronicle debuted as a weekly paper published on Fridays in 1886, with Cole as its editor. The paper did not succeed and soon folded.

In 1888, a local businessman, Robert Johnson, who had previously worked as city editor of The Gazette, bought the Chronicle's printing press and assets at a sheriff's auction. He launched The Corvallis Times with the slogan "Independent, Fearless and Free." Johnson operated The Times until 1893, when he sold it to Benjamin Franklin Irvine, a telegraph operator for the railroad. Irvine acquired another area newspaper The Benton Leader, founded in 1882 with The Times.