Kentucky’s first newspaper started in Lexington, and still operates today
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- The Kentucky Gazette began in 1787, predating Kentucky’s statehood by five years.
- John Bradford founded the paper to promote statehood and publish government acts.
- The revived Gazette now covers politics and public affairs statewide in 2025.
Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.
Kentucky’s first newspaper is older than the state itself.
A lot can be said about the Kentucky Gazette: It was the first newspaper in Lexington, and the first paper published west of Pennsylvania. And, it’s still part of Kentucky’s history.
The first edition went out on August 11, 1787, just a few years after Lexington was founded.
From the beginning of the city, the settlers here decided they needed a newspaper. John Bradford stepped up and started the newspaper, as long as he could also take on some of the government printing that needed to be done later.
According to the current Kentucky Gazette, the first issues were printed on animal skin parchment on a printing press that could only produce about 50 to 60 sheets an hour. Copies of the original editions of the Gazette have been digitized and are available online at the Lexington Public Library, as well as at the University of Kentucky Libraries, the National Digital Newspaper Program, and the Library of Congress.
Started to support Kentucky’s move for statehood, which happened in 1792, the paper began as a weekly publication but quickly moved to being published three times a week and delivered to subscribers. It was originally published as the Kentucke Gazette.
At the time, Lexington was still a frontier town, with a few hundred settlers living in log cabins.
There wasn’t a lot of local news. Instead, the paper relied on advertising local goods and reprinting national and international articles. After several years, however, it started publishing letters to the editor and proceedings from the Kentucky General Assembly.
John Bradford went on to publish the first acts of the Kentucky General Assembly and the Kentucky Almanac between 1788 and 1807. Bradford also later compiled some of the paper’s most distinguished articles as the book, “The Voice of the Frontier: John Bradford’s Notes on Kentucky.”
The early newspaper has a fiery background. Two of its editors were involved in duels, leading to the death of editor Thomas Roberts Benning, and later, the death of a citizen who disagreed with the paper’s editorials.
Bradford and his family continued to publish the Gazette until 1848. Another Lexington newspaper used the name from 1866 until 1910, when the paper shuttered, saying the two other newspapers in Lexington — The Lexington Herald and The Lexington Leader — “are sufficient for the needs of the city.”
In 1995, Lowell Reese, publisher of Kentucky Roll Call, revived the paper and operated it until he sold it to Laura Cullen Glasscock in February 2007. Now, the paper operates as a public affairs newspaper covering state government, politics and public affairs and is the only one of its kind in the state.
Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.