{{Short description|Printing company in Kentucky, US (1922–1992)}} {{Infobox company | industry = Printing | founded = 1922 | founder = Robert Worth Bingham | defunct = 1992 | hq_location = Louisville, Kentucky }} '''Standard Gravure''' was a Louisville, Kentucky rotogravure printing company founded in 1922 by Robert Worth Bingham and owned by the Bingham family. For decades, it printed the weekly ''The Courier-Journal''<ref name=":1" /> as well as rotogravure sections for other newspapers as well as ''Parade''.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
By the 1980s, a shrinking print market had reduced revenues, and an employee wage freeze was instituted by then President William E. Bockmon in 1982.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}
In 1986, Bingham family patriarch Barry Bingham Sr. announced the family would sell all their media holdings including Standard Gravure.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Alex S. |date=20 May 1986 |title=GANNETT GETS LOUISVILLE PAPERS FOR 300 MILLION |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/20/us/gannett-gets-louisville-papers-for-300-million.html |access-date=26 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |pages=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Wines |first=Michael |date=1986-01-19 |title=The Binghams of Louisville : Family Tragedy and Feuds Bring Down Media Empire |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-19-mn-1211-story.html |access-date=2024-02-26 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The employees of Standard Gravure made a bid to buy the company,{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} but it was sold instead to Michael Shea from Atlanta, Georgia for $22 million.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2 June 1986 |title=Binghams Sell A TV Station |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/02/business/binghams-sell-a-tv-station.html |access-date=8 February 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=27 May 1986 |title=Binghams Sell Another Unit |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/27/business/binghams-sell-another-unit.html |access-date=26 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |pages=5}}</ref> In the same year, the family sold ''The Louisville Courier-Journal'' and ''The Louisville Times'' for $305 million to the Gannett Company.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Peterson |first=Erica |last2=Gregory |first2=John |date=27 August 2018 |title=A Bingham Buys A Newspaper: The Life And Legacy Of Robert Worth Bingham |url=https://www.lpm.org/news/2018-08-27/a-bingham-buys-a-newspaper-the-life-and-legacy-of-robert-worth-bingham |access-date=16 February 2024 |website=Louisville Public Media}}</ref> After the sale the employees learned that $11 million of their employee pension fund had been used to help finance Shea's purchase.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nqrjeYwa7foC&dq=standard+Gravure+-shooting&pg=PA180 Prozac backlash: overcoming the dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and other antidepressants with safe, effective alternatives], p. 179.</ref> The company had 531 employees at two plants at the time of the sale.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}
On September 14, 1989, Standard Gravure came to national attention when Joseph T. Wesbecker, an employee on disability leave, entered the plant with several firearms and fired at employees for thirty minutes, injuring twelve and killing nine, including himself.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-10 |title=Bank shooting in Louisville brings memories of 1989 mass shooting at Standard Gravure |url=https://www.wdrb.com/news/bank-shooting-in-louisville-brings-memories-of-1989-mass-shooting-at-standard-gravure/article_a8154e70-d7fd-11ed-8c10-ff1d183df223.html |access-date=2024-02-08 |website=WDRB |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-04-16 |title=One of America's first workplace shootings had an unlikely suspect: Prozac |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/04/15/louisville-shooting-prozac-standard-gravure/ |access-date=2024-03-25 |work=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-12 |title=Standard Gravure remembered: Here are all the victims from the 1989 mass shooting |url=https://www.courier-journal.com/in-depth/news/local/2019/09/12/louisvilles-standard-gravure-shooting-anniversary-all-victims/2284348001/ |access-date=2024-03-25 |website=www.courier-journal.com |language=en-us}}</ref>
Standard Gravure closed in February 1992, after two serious fires.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-09-19 |title=Painful Parallels Between Mass Shootings at Navy Yard and Standard Gravure in Louisville |url=https://www.lpm.org/news/2013-09-19/painful-parallels-between-mass-shootings-at-navy-yard-and-standard-gravure-in-louisville |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=Louisville Public Media |language=en}}</ref> The building at 6th and Broadway and part of the Courier-Journal complex, was demolished and became a parking lot.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Adrianne |date=2019-09-14 |title=This Day in History: 8 killed, 12 wounded in Standard Gravure shooting |url=https://www.wlky.com/article/this-day-in-history-8-killed-12-wounded-in-standard-gravure-shooting/29045612 |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=WLKY |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Defunct companies based in Louisville, Kentucky Category:Printing companies of the United States Category:Mass media companies established in 1922 Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1992 Category:1922 establishments in Kentucky Category:1992 disestablishments in Kentucky Category:Courier Journal