The Warrensburg Star-Journal is the number one weekly newspaper in

Johnson County, Missouri Johnson County is a county located in western portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the population was 52,595 with a 2018 estimate of 53,652. Its county seat is Warrensburg. The county was formed December 13, 1834 from ...

published by the

Sedalia Democrat The ''Sedalia Democrat'' is an American daily newspaper published in Sedalia, Missouri. It was founded in 1868 as the ''Democratic Press'', a weekly newspaper. It became the ''Sedalia Democrat'' soon after. It began its daily edition, originally ...

History

The paper traces its history to the ''Warrensburg Journal'', which began publishing April 17, 1865, by James Douglas Eads—seven days after the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and two days after the

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the hea ...

. Warrensburg, population of 1,000 at the time, did not have a newspaper. Prior to the war, Eads, a church pastor, had published the ''Warrensburg Signal''. In addition to his pastor and newspaper interests he was also a physician and ran a hotel. On October 6, 1876, it became the ''Journal-Democrat'' after merging with the ''Warrensburg Democrat'', which had started in 1871. In 1907,

Wallace Crossley Wallace Crossley (October 4, 1874 – December 13, 1943) was the 29th Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, serving with Governor Frederick D. Gardner, and publisher of ''The Daily Star-Journal'' in Warrensburg, Missouri. Biography Crossley was b ...

became the publisher. On February 6, 1913, it became the ''Star-Journal'' after merging with the ''Johnson County Star'' founded in 1883 by J.M. Coe. William and

Avis Tucker Avis Green Tucker (July 30, 1915 – December 17, 2010) owned ''The Daily Star-Journal'' in Warrensburg, Missouri from 1947 to 2007. She was born Avis Green in Concordia, Kansas. When she was 18 months her parents moved to Pleasant Hill, Missouri ...

bought the paper in 1947. William Tucker died in 1966 and Avis owned the paper until 2007 when it was sold to NPG. At one point it owned radio station

KOKO (AM) KOKO (1450 AM, "Good Time Oldies 1450") is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Warrensburg, the county seat of Johnson County, Missouri. The station's broadcast license is held by D&H Media LLC. KOKO broadcasts a full ...

. Over time, the ''Daily Star-Journal'' changed from a daily publication to a weekly publication on Fridays in 2020. In October 2020, the paper was purchased by the ''Sedalia Democrat'', under parent company Phillips Media Group. At that time, the name was changed from ''Daily Star-Journal'' to ''Star-Journal'' to reflect its weekly publishing. In September 2021, the ''Star-Journal'' brought back the Tuesday print edition. The ''Star-Journal's'' print edition is now published twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. Among its reporters was

Bill Dedman Bill Dedman (born 1960) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, an investigative reporter for ''Newsday'', and co-author of the biography of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark, '' Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and ...

, who won a

1989 Pulitzer Prize Winners of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize by Category Journalism awards *Public Service: **''Anchorage Daily News'', for reporting about the high incidence of alcoholism and suicide among native Alaskans in a series that focused attention on their despai ...

Thomas Benton Hollyman Thomas Benton Hollyman (December 7, 1919 – November 14, 2009) was an American photojournalist who created travel photographs for magazines and advertising campaigns. Graydon Carter, managing editor of ''Vanity Fair'', in his magazine's Editor ...

was a photographer. James C. Kirkpatrick started his reporting career at the paper.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Star-Journal Newspapers published in Missouri Warrensburg, Missouri Publications established in 1865