A Brief History of The Hampshire Gazette

Established in September 1786 - with news about Shays's Rebellion - the Hampshire Gazette is one of the oldest newspapers in the United States.  On November 1, 1890, the Daily Hampshire Gazette first appeared and continues to this day as a six-day daily newspaper.  Downloadable PDF files beginning with the first available issue in 1786 through 1796 are available online.

Founding of the Hampshire Gazette

The first number of the Hampshire Gazette was published by William Butler on September 6, 1786, although no known copy is in existence today.  The earliest issue in existence was published the following week on September 13, 1786.   The Hampshire Gazette is generally believed to have come into existence due to the events of Shays's Rebellion.

Shays's Rebellion is the name given to the period of discontent with the existing order of legislation and administration with the government of Massachusetts in the years following the American Revolution.  In the summer of 1786, complaints about taxes, debts, the shortage of legal tender, and the structure of state government led citizens to organize countywide conventions and acts of civil disobedience to urge the state government to respond to their grievances.  On August 29, 1786, hundreds of men, some armed, assembled in military formation at the courthouse in Northampton and petitioned the court to suspend business, remaining at the courthouse until midnight.  Authorities took notice of the disruption of the court system and considered such actions a challenge to the legitimacy of state government.  Massachusetts Governor James Bowdoin issued a proclamation on September 3, 1786 calling upon Massachusetts judges and other officials to prevent and suppress "all such treasonable proceedings".  Readers of the Hampshire Gazette would find Bowdoin's proclamation printed in the September 13, 1786 issue as well as anonymous political articles supporting the existing state constitution.  "Thefe conventions are void of all authority, and when they affume to give law or direction to the people or to any branch of government, they ufurp the lawful powers of the legiflature and are guilty of injuring the majority of the people," wrote "An Old Republican" in the September 13^th issue.  "The laws equally refpect the various claffes of men, without giving undue advantages to any particular clafs," claimed "Aristides" in the September 20^th issue.  It is presumed that Butler was encouraged to establish a printing office in Northampton to publish a newspaper through which could be advocated support for the existing state government and its efforts to quell the events of Shays's Rebellion.

First Publisher of the Hampshire Gazette

William Butler came to Northampton at the age of 22 in the summer of 1786, having served a three-year apprenticeship in the printing business with Hudson & Goodwin, printers and publishers of Hartford, Connecticut.  To print the initial editions, he set up his printing office in the rear part of the house of Benjamin Prescott, located on the corner of Main and Pleasant streets.  A printing office was soon afterward completed, on the northeasterly side of Pleasant Street.  The building housed a printing office on the second story and a variety store operated by Butler's brother, Daniel, on the first story.  The paper on which the Gazette was printed was made by hand in a paper-mill operated by Butler, in the Bay State section of Northampton, subsequently known as Paper Mill Village. 

The early issues consisted of four pages of the national and foreign news of the day; in many issues there was not a single local item.  The Gazette brought intelligence from afar, circulated to area towns by post riders:  Andrew Wood of Hawley rode to Williamstown, another rode to Pittsfield and Lanesboro, Ebenezer K. Rust rode to Westhampton, Norwich, Chester, Middlefield, Montgomery and Russell; another to Chicopee, Springfield and Longmeadow, another to Wendell on the north, and another to Belchertown, Ware and Hardwick.

Publishers of the Gazette from 1815-2005

Butler sold the paper on July 1, 1815, having published it nearly 29 years.  The second editor of the Gazette was Wm. W. Clapp of Boston.  On January 1, 1817, Clapp sold the paper to the law firm of Bates & Judd - Isaac C. Bates and Hophni Judd.  In June 1817, Bates and Judd admitted to partnership with Thomas Watson Shepard and the paper was published under the firmname of Thomas Watson Shepard & Co. until April 10, 1822.  Sylvester Judd, Jr. purchased the paper in 1822, after the death of his brother, Hophni Judd, publishing the paper for the next 12 years.  On January 1, 1835, Judd sold the Gazette to Charles P. Huntington and William A. Hawley.  By June 1835, Huntington sold his interest in the paper to Hawley, who continued to edit and publish the paper until March 1853, when he sold it to Hopkins, Bridgman and Company, booksellers and publishers in Northampton.  Hopkins, Bridgman and Company employed James R. Trumbull to edit the paper.  Trumbull edited the paper until January 1, 1858, when Thomas Hale of Windsor, Vermont purchased half-interest in the paper and served as editor.  On October 1, 1858, Trumbull purchased the Gazette in its entirety; one month later, it merged with the Northampton Courier published by Henry Gere.  Trumbull and Gere published and edited the Gazette until January 1, 1877 when Trumbull sold his interest to his partner.  When Henry Gere died in 1914, his sons succeeded him.  In 1929, business manager Harriett Williams DeRose purchased the corporate stock and became one of the first women newspaper publishers in the United States.  When Harriet DeRose died in 1960 her son, Charles Nathan DeRose became publisher.  Upon his death in 1970, their sons, Charles W. DeRose and Peter L. DeRose became co-publishers.  In 2005, the Gazette was sold to Newspapers of New England based in Concord, New Hampshire.

Format of the Newspaper

The paper has been published under three names.  First, it was called the Hampshire Gazette, and was published weekly from September 6, 1786 to October 26, 1858.  Then it became the Hampshire Gazette and Northampton Courier, being issued weekly from November 2, 1858 to December 31, 1917.  On November 1, 1890, the Daily Hampshire Gazette first appeared and has continued uninterruptedly to date.  The daily and weekly issues of the Gazette overlapped from 1890 to 1917.  Prior to 1890, two attempts were made to establish a daily newspaper.  The first, under the title Daily Gazette, was issued from May 27 to July 20, 1846, and the second, under the name Daily Gazette and Courier, lasted from April 25 to May 22, 1861.

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