Top of page

Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities
BETA

Newspaper Wilmington Daily Gazette (Wilmington, Del.) 1872-1874

View All Front Pages

About Wilmington Daily Gazette (Wilmington, Del.) 1872-1874

In 1785, Jacob Killian founded Delaware’s first successful newspaper, the Delaware Gazette in Wilmington. Similar to other newspapers of the time, it was devoted to foreign news and national politics with some attention also to local politics and advertisements. It continued to be published with varying frequency until 1883.

By 1789, Frederick Craig and Company took over the Delaware Gazette, which now appeared each Wednesday and Saturday.

During 1796-97, the paper was printed by William Smyth on Shipley Street in Wilmington, and it went through multiple owners over the next several decades. In its early years, the Gazette advocated for the Federalist cause. However, support for the Federalist Party in Delaware was declining, as public sentiment shifted toward the Democratic Party. As a result, in 1828, the Delaware Gazette formally supported General Andrew Jackson for President.

Beginning in 1820, the Delaware Gazette moved from weekly to semiweekly publication. In December 1828 and under the leadership of Samuel Harker, the Delaware Gazette absorbed two other Delaware newspapers, the Patriot and the American Watchman. Following the merger, the Delaware Gazette was renamed the Delaware Gazette and American Watchman.

The newspaper again went through several decades of ownership by multiple individuals and partnerships. In 1858, Caleb P. Johnson became the sole owner and remained such for almost thirty years, providing the newspaper with more consistent leadership. Johnson succeeded in making the Delaware Gazette the most influential Democratic newspaper in the state. In fact, its publishing office served as the Democratic Party headquarters, and the Gazette became known as the “Democratic Bible”.

Under Johnson’s tenure, the paper appeared weekly as the Delaware Gazette; in 1872, it began publishing a daily edition, the Wilmington Daily Gazette. On August 21, 1874, the title of the latter was shortened to the Daily Gazette. At the time of Johnson’s retirement in 1882, the Delaware Gazette had been in continuous operation of 97 years as either a weekly, semiweekly, or daily paper.

In 1878, the Daily Gazette joined with the Every Evening to become the Every Evening, Wilmington Daily Commercial. On December 10, 1883, the weekly Delaware Gazette merged with the Every Evening’s weekly publication to become the Delaware Gazette and State Journal.

Provided By: University of Delaware Library, Newark, DE

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Wilmington Daily Gazette (Wilmington, Del.) 1872-1874

Dates of Publication

  • 1872-1874

Created / Published

  • Wilmington, Del. : C.P. Johnson

Headings

  • -  Wilmington (Del.)--Newspapers
  • -  Delaware--Wilmington
  • -  United States--Delaware--New Castle--Wilmington

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily
  • -  Began Apr. 1, 1872.
  • -  -v. 84, no. 431 (Aug. 20, 1874).
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Weekly edition: Delaware gazette (Wilmington, Del. : 1837), 1872-1874.
  • -  Vol. 82, no. 2 (Apr. 2, 1872).
  • -  Daily gazette (Wilmington, Del.) 2474-2031 (DLC)sn 82014805 (OCoLC)8800641

Medium

  • volumes ; 53 cm

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn84026837

OCLC Number

  • 10718570

ISSN Number

  • 2474-3097

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

The NEH awardee responsible for producing each digital object is presented in the Chronicling America page display, below the page image – e.g. Image produced by the Library of Congress. For more information on current NDNP awardees, see https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/listawardees.html.

For more information on Library of Congress policies and disclaimers regarding rights and reproductions, see https://www.loc.gov/homepage/legal.html

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Wilmington Daily Gazette Wilmington, Del. -1874. (Wilmington, DE), Jan. 1 1872. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84026837/.

APA citation style:

(1872, January 1) Wilmington Daily Gazette Wilmington, Del. -1874. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn84026837/.

MLA citation style:

Wilmington Daily Gazette Wilmington, Del. -1874. (Wilmington, DE) 1 Jan. 1872. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn84026837/.