200 years ago today, William E. Woodruff published the first issue of the Arkansas Gazette in Arkansas Post, the first capital of the newly created Arkansas Territory, printed from a press that he had personally brought to Arkansas from Nashville, Tennessee, by boat. Woodruff soon relocated to Little Rock along with the territorial government, and for the next 172 years the Gazette would be Arkansas’ most prominent newspaper and, eventually, the oldest continually published paper west of the Mississippi River. Throughout this period, the Arkansas Gazette served readers not only in Little Rock, but throughout the state, and came (like the New York Times) to be known as the “Old Gray Lady” in recognition of its longevity and prominence within the state.
Identified with the Democratic Party for most of its existence, the Gazette’s editorials reflected the evolution of the Democratic Party nationally and in the South. The Gazette placed itself in opposition to the Reconstruction government of Arkansas and subsequently argued in favor of the white supremacist policies of the Jim Crow era, much like the Democratic Party of that era. This editorial stance began to change with the Little Rock Crisis in 1957. During the crisis, the Arkansas Gazette maintained a consistent policy of supporting the Federal Government, which was itself mandating the integration of Little Rock Central High School. This editorial stance earned the paper widespread recognition, including two Pulitzer Prizes, and helped establish the paper as a liberal voice in the South. This reputation would be further enhanced by the paper’s advocacy for other liberal causes and its opposition to figures such as Orval Faubus.
Following a long and bitter newspaper circulation war with its Little Rock rival, the Arkansas Democrat, the Arkansas Gazette was bought out by the Democrat in October 1991. The Democrat’s publishers immediately launched a new paper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, retaining the Gazette’s intellectual property and two columnists who had been under contract at the time of the purchase with the Gazette. The Arkansas Gazette was left with only a final editorial to note the paper’s passing, stating that “We will take our leave mindful of the words of St. Paul, who wrote: ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.’ We believe the Arkansas Gazette has kept the faith and we are proud to have had the privilege for almost two centuries.” The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette continues to be published today as the largest newspaper by circulation in the state of Arkansas