The ''Rapid City Journal'' (formerly the ''Black Hills Journal'' and the ''Rapid City Daily Journal'') is the daily

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City ( lkt, link=no, Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western S ...

. As of 2021, it is the largest newspaper in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

by total subscriptions, according to the United States Postal Service Statement of Ownership and the South Dakota Newspaper Association. It covers Mount Rushmore, the

Black Hills The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...

, the

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is a motorcycle rally held annually in Sturgis, South Dakota, and the surrounding Black Hills region of the United States. It began in 1938 by a group of Indian Motorcycle riders and was originally held for stunts a ...

, and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The newspaper also publishes the ''Sturgis Rally Daily'' and ''Compass'', which are two special supplements. The ''Sturgis Rally Daily'' is published during the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and ''Compass'' is the weekly shoppers tab.

History

The ''Rapid City Journal'' began on January 5, 1878, as the ''Black Hills Journal''. Publisher Joseph P. Gossage produced the first edition of the ''Black Hills Journal'', which was four pages and had 250 subscribers. Printed in a log cabin on Rapid Street, the first newspaper was laboriously cranked out on a Washington hand

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

. The newspaper printed its first daily paper and changed its name to the ''Rapid City Daily Journal'' on February 2, 1886. It continued to publish as both a daily and a weekly newspaper until 1929. It has acted as a historical record for western South Dakota, covering major events like the

1972 Black Hills flood The Black Hills Flood of 1972, also known as the Rapid City Flood, was the most detrimental flood in South Dakota history, and one of the deadliest floods in U.S. history. The flood took place on June 9–10, 1972 in the Black Hills of Western ...

, the annual Buffalo Roundup and auction in

Custer State Park Custer State Park is a South Dakota State Park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills, United States. The park is South Dakota's largest and first state park, named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The park covers an area of over of ...

Crazy Horse Memorial The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain monument under construction on privately held land in the Black Hills, in Custer County, South Dakota, United States. It will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing to his ...

's annual

volksmarch Volksmarching (from German "", ''people's march'') is a form of non-competitive fitness walking that developed in Europe in the mid-late 1960s. By 1968, the International Federation of Popular Sports (better known as the "IVV") was formed by Germa ...

, and the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. As of January 2022, Ben Rogers is the publisher and A.J. Etherington is the executive editor. For the newsroom, Nathan Thompson is the managing editor. The Rapid City Journal Media Group also publishes one weekly newspaper, ''The'' ''Chadron Record'' in

Chadron, Nebraska Chadron ( ) is a city and the county seat of Dawes County, in the state of Nebraska in the Great Plains region of the United States. The population was 5,851 at the 2010 census. This city is the location of Chadron State College. Chadron also ...

. Nathan Thompson is the executive editor and Mark Dykes is the managing editor of ''The Chadron Record.''

Publishers

# Joseph P. Gossage - January 1878 to April 1925 # Alice Gossage - April 1925 to June 1925 # Charles Mitchell - June 1925 to April 1926 # E.F. "Ted" Lusk - June 1925 to April 1939 # R.W. Hitchcock - April 1939 to February 1961 # Jean Hitchcock Mitchell - February 1961 to December 1964 # Willis Brown - December 1964 to September 1968 # Joyce A. Swan September 1968 to May 1971 # James W. "Rusty" Swan - May 1971 to November 1985 # David C. Sharp - November 1985 to April 1993 # Loretta Lynde - May 1993 to September 1994 # John Van Strydonck - October 1994 to September 2000 # Bill Masterson, Jr. - September 2000 to September 2006 # Rosanne Cheeseman - November 2006 to October 2007 # Brad Slater - October 2007 to June 2011 # Shannon Brinker - November 2011 to May 2017 # Eugene Jackson - May 2017 to March 2018 # Matthew Tranquill - January 2019 to January 2021 # Bill Masterson, Jr. - January 2021 to January 2022 # Ben Rogers - January 2022 to present

External links

The ''Rapid City Journal''s website
Newspapers published in South Dakota Lee Enterprises publications Mass media in Rapid City, South Dakota Publications established in 1878 1878 establishments in Dakota Territory {{SouthDakota-newspaper-stub

History

Publishers

See also

External links