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The Columbus Dispatch is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since The Columbus Citizen-Journal ceased publication in 1985.
As of November 2019, Alan D. Miller is the newspaper's interim general manager.
History
The paper was founded in June 1871 by a group of 10 printers with US$900 in financial capital. The paper published its first issue as The Daily Dispatch on July 1, 1871, as a four-page paper which cost 4¢ (102¢ in 2023) per copy. The paper was originally an afternoon paper for the city of Columbus, Ohio, which at the time had a population of 32,000. For its first few years, the paper rented a headquarters on North High Street and Lynn Alley in Columbus. It began with 800 subscribers.
On April 2, 1888, the paper published its first full-page advertisement, for the Columbus Buggy Company. In 1895, the paper moved its headquarters to the northeast corner of Gay and High streets, a larger building on a site which was previously a grocer. On April 10, the paper published a 72-page edition to mark the move. On December 17, 1899, the paper published its first Sunday edition, a 36-page paper which cost 3¢ (110¢ in 2023), and the daily editions were reduced in price to 2¢ (73¢ in 2023). Two years later on March 3, 1901, the paper published its first color comic strips.
The paper, renamed The Columbus Evening Dispatch, changed hands several times in its early years. In 1905, it was purchased by brothers Harry Preston Wolfe and Robert Frederick Wolfe, who originally ran a shoe company. It was not the Wolfes' first entry into journalism; they had purchased the Ohio State Journal two years before. The Dispatch would remain in the hands of the Wolfe family for 110 years. On December 16, 1906, the paper published its first color ad, for Beggs Store. On April 9, 1907, the Dispatch offices were destroyed in a fire, and the building was demolished and rebuilt. In the interlude, the paper ran its offices out of 34/36 North High Street.
A competing paper, The Columbus Citizen-Journal (known locally as the "C-J", pronounced "See-Jay") was beholden to the Columbus Dispatch for its printing facilities, and controversy surrounded the C-J's demise in 1985.
In a sale announced on June 3, 2015, ownership of the Dispatch was transferred to the GateHouse Media subsidiary of New Media Investment Group. With New Media's 2019 acquisition of Gannett, GateHouse Media was rebranded as Gannett, the name under which the Dispatch is currently held.
The sections of the Dispatch include the Front Section, Nation & World, Metro & State, Business, Sports and Life & Arts. The Food section is included in the Wednesday paper, while Science is published on Sundays. The Weekender section is included in the Thursday paper. A Faith & Values section is included in the Friday paper. Sunday sections include Arts & Leisure, At Home, Insight and comics.
Magazines
The Columbus Dispatch also owns the magazines Columbus Monthly, Columbus CEO, Columbus Weddings, Columbus Monthly Home & Garden, Columbus Alive, and Columbus Parent.
The November 5, 2008 front page of
City of Columbus, Ohio
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