Type Daily newspaper Owner(s) GateHouse Media Editor Angie Muhs | Format Broadsheet Publisher Clarissa Williams | |
Founded 1831, as Sangamo Journal | ||
The State Journal-Register is the only local daily newspaper for Springfield, Illinois and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1831 as the Sangamo Journal by William Bailhache and Edward Baker, and claims to be "the oldest newspaper in Illinois." As such, it and its editor, Edward L. Baker, supported the political career of the Springfield-based Abraham Lincoln in the years before the American Civil War; in fact, it was in the Journal's office that Lincoln and his friends waited for the telegraphic news from Chicago to find out who would be the Republican presidential nominee in 1860.Later in publication, the name was changed to Illinois State Journal.
After several name changes, The State-Journal merged with its afternoon rival, the Illinois State Register, in 1974, to create The State Journal-Register.
The newspaper is owned by Fairport, New York-based GateHouse Media.