{{Short description|Newspaper in Owensboro, Kentucky}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = The Messenger-Inquirer | image = | caption = | type = Daily newspaper | format = Broadsheet | founded = 1875 | ceased_publication = | price = | owners = Paxton Media Group | publisher = Mike Weafer<ref name="M-I Contacts">{{cite web |title=Contact Us |url=https://www.messenger-inquirer.com/our_newspaper/contact_us/ |website=Messenger-Inquirer |publisher=Paxton Media Group |access-date=17 August 2021}}</ref> | editor = Matt Francis<ref name="M-I Contacts" /> | language = English | circulation = 15,087 Monday-Saturday <br />20,383 Sunday | headquarters = 1401 Frederica St.<br>Owensboro, Kentucky 42301<br />United States | ISSN = | website = {{URL|messenger-inquirer.com}} }}
The '''''Messenger-Inquirer''''' is a local newspaper in Owensboro, Kentucky. ''The Messenger-Inquirer'' serves 15,087 daily and 20,383 Sunday readers in five counties in western Kentucky.<ref name=circ>{{cite web|title=Messenger Inquirer|url=http://www.kypress.com/directory/daily_detail.php?id=19|publisher=Kentucky Press Association|accessdate=25 March 2019}}</ref>
==History== The newspaper's roots trace back to 1875, when Lee Lumpkin founded The Examiner.<ref name="KPA M-I 125th">{{cite web |last1=Dooley |first1=Karla |title=Messenger-Inquirer marks 125th anniversary |url=http://www.kypressonline.com/z_2000-07/articles/story_1.php |website=KYPressOnline.com |publisher=Kentucky Press Association |access-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304070244/http://www.kypressonline.com/z_2000-07/articles/story_1.php |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
The newspaper's name was later changed to the Messenger. The Messenger was purchased by the Hager family, owners of the competing Owensboro Inquirer, in 1929.<ref name="KPA M-I 125th" />
By 1864, when Thomas S. Pettit purchased the paper, it had changed its name to ''The Monitor''.<ref name="hok158">Connelley and Coulter, p. 158</ref> Immediately after taking control of the paper, Pettit published a series of items vigorously criticizing the Republican Party and its policies during the Civil War.<ref name="bc141">''Biographical Cyclopedia'', p. 141</ref> On November 17, 1864, Pettit was arrested on orders from General Stephen G. Burbridge on charges of being "notoriously disloyal" to the Union.<ref name="bc141" /> He was taken to Memphis, Tennessee, and transferred into Confederate territory.<ref name="hok158" />
In May 1865, he returned to Owensboro and found his print shop and printing press had been destroyed by federal authorities.<ref name="hok158" /> He traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to purchase replacement equipment and, on hearing the story of his arrest and subsequent travels, the equipment dealer extended him a generous line of credit, allowing him to purchase more sophisticated equipment than had ever before been used in Owensboro.<ref name="hok158" /> With this new equipment, Pettit revived the ''Monitor'' and published his stories of wartime banishment, bringing him significant acclaim in Kentucky.<ref name="bc141" /> Moreover, he also published editorials by future U.S. Senator Thomas C. McCreery, giving the ''Monitor'' further credibility and increasing its readership.<ref name="hok158" /><ref name="Belo sells Kentucky daily">[http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2000/11/20/daily19.html Belo sells Kentucky daily]</ref>
The newspaper was purchased by A.H. Belo Corp. (then-owner of the Dallas Morning News) in 1997 for an undisclosed sum.<ref name="AP Belo purchase">{{cite web |title=A.H. Belo Corp. to acquire The Gleaner newspaper |url=https://apnews.com/article/f330e301cae6b1538d621b4cd76f6a90 |publisher=Associated Press |access-date=17 August 2021}}</ref>
Belo sold the newspaper to Paxton Media Group in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |title=Selected Group Sellers of Newspapers Represented by DV&M |url=http://dirksvanessen.com/selected_transactions/ |website=Dirks, VanEssen & April |access-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817133348/http://dirksvanessen.com/selected_transactions/ |archive-date=17 August 2021 |language=English |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Belo sells Kentucky daily"/>
==References== {{reflist}} *{{cite book |title=Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky |publisher=J.M. Gresham Company |location=Chicago, Illinois |year=1896 |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924028804122}} *{{cite book |last=Connelley |first=William Elsey |author2=Ellis Merton Coulter |authorlink2=E. Merton Coulter |title=History of Kentucky |year=1922 |publisher=American Historical Society |url=https://archive.org/details/historykentucky01coulgoog}}
==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.messenger-inquirer.com/}}
{{Paxton Media Group}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messenger-Inquirer, The}} Category:Newspapers published in Kentucky Category:Owensboro, Kentucky Category:Newspapers established in 1875 Category:1875 establishments in Kentucky Category:1997 mergers and acquisitions Category:2000 mergers and acquisitions