The Reporter
In August of 1808, a Conestoga wagon pulled into the little frontier village of Washington, Pennsylvania. Many of the 1,000 residents still referred to the settlement as 'Catfish Camp", named after the Delaware Indian chief the first white settlers had found along a large spring at what is now the comer of South Main and Maiden streets.
Aboard the wagon were two itinerant printers, William Sample and William B. Brown. With dreams of printing a frontier newspaper, the two were bound for Kentucky armed with the tools of their trade -- an old Washington hand-printing press, type, ink and paper. The men stopped to rest at a local tavern, not realizing that they had reached the end of their journey and were about to fulfill their dream.
John Rettig, owner of "The Sign of the Swan" tavern, convinced Brown and Sample that the prospering community needed a newspaper, and offered the tavern's basement as a printing shop. The first issue of their weekly newspaper, The Reporter, was published Friday, August 15, 1808, at what is now the corner of South Main and East Wheeling streets, currently the site of the Union Grill.
The early issues of The Reporter contained little local news since most of the residents of the small community had already heard anything of importance by the time the paper was published by Friday. People were most interested in news from east of the Allegheny Mountains, and the paper's columns were full of information gathered from newsletters and clippings from the "outside world." In February of 1810, Sample bought out Brown’s interest in The Reporter and the two parted company. Sample remained sole proprietor for the next 23 years, with time out to serve as commander of the Washington Infantry in the War of 1812. In July of 1833 Sample sold The Reporter to B.S. Stewart and George E. Acheson, and moved to Iowa where he lived until his death in 1864.
The Reporter’s original format survived. Several changes in ownership over the next 40 years. However, that was to end with the purchase of the paper by Major Enos L. Christman on April 2, 1873. On August 4, 1876, Major Christman changed the 68-year old weekly publication to a daily afternoon newspaper, The Daily Reporter. After an inauspicious beginning with less than 1000 circulation, few pages and even fewer advertisements, the paper managed to survive and grow. By 1902, after four generations of Christmans had been associated with The Reporter, circulation had grown to 6,000 and advertising revenue substantially increased. The Observer Publishing Company acquired The Reporter on January I, 1903.
The paper changed hands several times over the years, and did not become a daily until October 21, 1889. At that time, the paper was owned by E.F. Acheson and Winfield McIlvaine. Mr. Acheson became sole owner in October 1890, and remained as such until 1892, when Clark T. Barlett became his partner.
On July 24, 1902, the paper was purchased by John L. Stewart, and the Observer Publishing Company was formed by Stewart and Acheson. Observer Publishing Company The newly formed company continued to publish the two dailies, The Washington Observer in the morning and The Washington Reporter in the afternoon. Acheson retired in 1912, and Stewart became controlling owner and president. He retained that position until his death in May 1940. At that time, his wife, Margaretta D. Stewart became president of the Observer Publishing Company. When Mrs. Stewart died on May 2, 1966, her grandsons, John L.S. and William B. Northrop became co-owners.
On May 1, 1967 the two papers were merged into one publication. the Observer-Reporter, with morning "Home" and afternoon "Final" editions. The paper became a morning only publication in 1981, with a zoned edition for Greene County subscribers. The scope of Observer Publishing Company has expanded over the years. In 1963, The Waynesburg Republican was purchased and controlling interest in The Advertiser & The Almanac was acquired in 1981, and Cornerstone Publishing Company was formed. The Burgettstown Enterprise was purchased in 1982, and The McDonald Record-Outlook became part of the Observer Publishing Company in 1984. The Democrat Messenger in Waynesburg and The Monongahela Daily Herald were purchased in 1986. Monumental change and growth continued during the next decade. In April of 1986, the Sunday Edition of the Observer-Reporter was launched. In 1990, The Advertiser and The Almanac converted from a tabloid to a broadsheet format. Then, to keep up with rising circulation and competition a building was built in Washington to house a new MAN- Roland Mediaman Offset Color Printing Press.
The new press began operating in June of 1993. Circulation continued to grow from 33,000 to nearly 40,000 during this decade. An Audiotext service, InfoSource and a telemarketing division, Ads by Phone, were initiated in the spring of 1996. The Observer Publishing Company became an internet service provider, opening Cobweb in August of 1996. The Advertiser and The Almanac were merged into one publication, The Almanac, with two zoned editions in June of 1998. A South Hills zoned edition of the Observer-Reporter was launched in August of 1998. With growth comes change and adaptation. InfoSource, begun in 1996, was closed in 1998 as the internet became a more viable information source for our readers. In March of 1999, as part of a corporate restructuring, the Record Enterprise and the Burgettstown and McDonald offices were closed. We continue to cover the area editorially and with advertising. The Almanac changed it's McMurray location when we moved from our Washington Road offices to a spacious building on Valleybrook. The Almanac circulation department also operates from this location.