The ''Spartanburg Herald-Journal'' is a daily newspaper, the primary newspaper for
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...
, United States.
History
The origins of the paper lie with ''The Spartan'', a weekly paper reportedly first printed in about 1842–43. In 1844, this was renamed ''The Carolina Spartan''. In about 1900, the paper was reportedly bought by The Journal Publishing Company, which renamed it ''The Spartanburg Journal''.
In 1872 (or perhaps 1875), ''The Spartanburg Herald'' began publishing. It began daily publication in 1890; the ''Journal'' followed suit in 1903.
The ''Herald'' purchased the ''Journal'' in 1914. The ''Herald'' was a morning paper, while the ''Journal'' covered evenings, with joint editions published on the weekend. Though under common ownership, the ''Herald'' and ''Journal'' did not completely merge into one paper until October 1982.
In 1929, owner The Herald-Journal Publishing Company sold the papers to its paper distributor, the International Paper and Power Company, who sold them to A. G. Keeney in 1936, who in turn sold to S. S. "Blue" Wallace in 1939. Charles Edward Marsh brought the papers in 1946, and donated them to the non-profit
Public Welfare Foundation
The Public Welfare Foundation distributes grants to organizations it believes it can contribute to reform. It has distributed more than $540 million in aid to 4,700 organizations. In 2013, it had total assets of $488.2 million and total giving of ...
he had created in 1947.
A 1969 federal tax law requiring non-profits to sell newspaper holdings eventually required the sale of the paper. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' acquired the ''Herald-Journal'' from the Public Welfare Foundation in 1985 (along with ''
The Tuscaloosa News
The '' Tuscaloosa News '' is a daily newspaper serving Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, and the surrounding area in west central Alabama.
In 2012, Halifax Media Group acquired the ''Tuscaloosa News''. Prior to that, the paper's owner was Th ...
'' and ''
The Gadsden Times
'' The Gadsden Times '' is a daily newspaper serving Gadsden, Alabama, and the surrounding area in northeastern Alabama.
The Times was owned by Halifax Media Group. Before that, the newspaper was a member of the New York Times Regional Media G ...
''), at which time its daily circulation was 47,500, and Sunday 51,000.
On January 6, 2012, Halifax Media Group completed its purchase of the ''Herald-Journal'' and 15 other newspapers from ''The New York Times''. In 2015, Halifax was acquired by