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The Herald of Randolph

P.O. Box 309, Randolph, Vermont 05060

(802) 728-3232
FAX (802) 728-9275
E Mail: editor@OurHerald.com
Web Site: www.ourherald.com

History of the Herald of Randolph

The Herald office was built on a pleaseant, tree-lined street in 1899 for the newspaper. It has been added on to only once since.

The Herald of Randolph has been the voice of the towns in the beautiful White River Valley of Vermont since its founding in 1874. During that time it has had only four publishers and is considered one of the premiere weekly newspapers in Vermont. The Herald routinely wins awards for news and editorial writing and photography from the Vermont Press Association and the New England Press Association.

The Herald's philosophy is to depict the lives of Central Vermont's wonderfully varied people, to celebrate with them their triumphs and successes and to carefully point out where improvements could be made. Would you like to feel connected to small town life in Central Vermont? Log on to Our Herald.com or better yet, subscribe to The Herald, using the link on this web page.

Receptionist Kyle LeCours greets you as you enter the front door. The historical nature of the office and staircase once led to this room being used as the setting for a movie based on a Mark Twain story.

The Herald of Randolph was established in 1874 by L.P. Thayer when he purchased the Green Mountain Herald, published in Randolph. In fact, Randolph's newspaper can be traced back to 1801, when the Weekly Wanderer was published in Randolph Center. The Green Mountain Aegis was the first newspaper actually published in West Randolph (now the present-day Randolph). The Orange County Eagle was started in Randolph in 1865 and its name was changed to the Green Mountain Herald in 1873.

The Herald began its regional focus in 1874 when the Randolph Herald printed editions for the White River Valley towns. This is the date that we consider to be the foundng of The Herald. The newspaper was purchased by L.B. Johnson in 1894, and our current offices were built in 1899. In 1941 Johnson changed the name to The White River Valley Herald.

John Drysdale bought the paper in 1945 and continued its regional emphasis and independent viewpoint. In 1960 he introduced the offset printing method to The Herald making it the first newspaper in Vermont to do so.

The spacious composing room upstairs in The Herald, along with some of our wonderful staff.

Only the fourth publisher since 1874, M. Dickey Drysdale took over in 1973. Since then circulation has expanded from 4000 to 6000, and the size of the paper has doubled. In 1989, the paper was re-designed and re-named The Herald of Randolph. The on-line edition was created in June of 2000.

Circulation

Circulation is 6000 copies weekly, including saturation coverage of central and western Orange County and northern Windsor County.

The publisher of The Herald for the 51 years from 1894 to 1945 was L. B. Johnson, at left. In 1945, when this photograph was taken, leadership passed to John Drysdale, who was publisher until 1971.

Established 1874 (see History)

Published weekly on Thursdays

Subscriptions: one year $29 in Vt. & N.H., $34 elsewhere. Six months $19 everywhere, three months $11 everywhere

Single copy price 75

Subscription sales are 54%, single copy newsstand sales, 46%

Areas of Circulation (% of total): Addison County 2%, Orange County 43%, Rutland County 2%, Washington County 2%, Windsor County 32%, Other Vermont Counties 3%.

Vermont towns reached by County: Addison: Hancock, Granville; Orange: Brookfield, Chelsea, Post Mills, Randolph, Strafford, Thetford, Tunbridge, Williamstown; Rutland: Pittsfield; Washington: Barre, Montpelier, Northfield, Roxbury; Windsor:

Typesetters create The Herald one letter at a time in this superb old photograph taken in 1899 just after the building was built.

Barnard, Bethel, Norwich, Rochester, Sharon, South Royalton, White River Junction, Woodstock, Stockbridge.

M. Dickey Drysdale has been publisher of The Herald of Randolph since 1971.

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