{{Short description|Former newspaper in Portland, Maine}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = Eastern Argus | image = | image_size = | caption = | type = Daily newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = {{start date|1869}} | owners = | publisher = | editor = | motto = | ceased_publication = January 1922 | headquarters = Portland, Maine, United States | circulation = | oclc = 2260559 | ISSN = | website = }} The '''''Eastern Argus''''' was a newspaper published in Portland, Maine, United States, from 1803 to January 1921. In early 1921, it was succeeded by the ''Portland Press Herald''.
== History == The newspaper was founded by Calvin Day and Nathaniel Willis. Its offices, along with the offices of all the newspapers in the city, were destroyed on July 4, 1866, in the Great Fire of 1866.<ref>{{Cite web |last=pressherald.com |title=The Night Portland Burned |url=http://specialprojects.pressherald.com/portlands-great-fire |access-date=2022-03-26 |website=Portland Press Herald |language=en-US}}</ref> At the time of its closure, it was the "oldest newspaper in Maine published continuously without change of name." Among those with a business interest in the paper at that time were Don Carlos Seitz and Ernest C. Bowler. It was owned by the Independent Publishing Company.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |title=MAINE PAPER DISCONTINUES.; Eastern Argus Will Be Succeeded by The Portland Herald. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1921/01/22/archives/maine-paper-discontinues-eastern-argus-will-be-succeeded-by-the.html |accessdate=21 April 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=22 January 1921}}</ref>
== Journalists == Prominent editors and journalists employed by the Eastern Argus included John Adams, Thomas Haskell and Seba Smith.
==Editorial positions== In 1803 "gentlemen of the Republican party" invited Nathaniel P. Willis, father of the journalist Nathaniel Parker Willis, to move from Boston to Portland to establish the ''Eastern Argus'' "in opposition to the Federalists."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-02-04 |title=Newspapers {{!}} Maine: An Encyclopedia |url=https://maineanencyclopedia.com/newspapers/ |access-date=2022-03-26 |language=en-US}}</ref> The paper was friendly to the French Revolution and opposed the Federalist Party.<ref name="Griffin">{{cite book |last1=Griffin |first1=Joseph |title=History of the Press of Maine |date=1819 |publisher=The Press |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nN9CAQAAMAAJ&q=%22eastern+argus%22+maine&pg=PA314 |accessdate=21 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Later, it was friendly to the Democratic Party. It was strongly in favor of separation of Maine from Massachusetts and the formation of the U.S. state of Maine, which was accomplished in 1820.<ref name="Hanchett">{{cite book |last1=Hanchett Jr |first1=Leland J. |title=Connecting Maine's Capitals by Stagecoach |date=2017 |publisher=Pine Rim Publishing LLC |isbn=978-0-692-94135-5 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QxK4DwAAQBAJ&q=%22eastern+argus%22+maine&pg=PA8 |accessdate=21 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Newspapers published in Portland, Maine Category:Defunct newspapers published in Maine Category:Publications established in 1803 Category:Publications disestablished in 1921 Category:1803 establishments in Maine Category:1921 disestablishments in Maine
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