April 1, 1833

The Montgomery Advertiser began publishing in 1829, with the roots of the newspaper it would become tied to the founding of the Montgomery Republican and the Planters Gazette. The Republican began publishing in 1821, with Edward W. Thompson as printer. Thompson and a business partner sold the paper in 1824, and in 1829 Thompson started the Planters Gazette. With a change in ownership on April 1, 1833, the Gazette became the Montgomery Advertiser and Planters Gazette, and by 1836 the name had become simply the Montgomery Advertiser. The newspaper has chronicled significant events in Alabama, including economic booms and busts, wars, the civil rights movement and natural disasters. The Advertiser and the jointly owned Alabama Journal won three Pulitzer Prizes in the 20^th century.

Read more at the Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The front page of the Montgomery Daily Advertiser, one of many incarnations of the Montgomery Advertiser, from Oct. 8, 1864. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of the Alabama Department of Archives and History)

For more on Alabama’s bicentennial, go to Alabama 200.