Evening Journal Archive

Martinsburg's Evening Journal began as a six-page daily newspaper (excluding Sundays) established and managed by Harry Flood Byrd. Hailing from Berkeley County, Byrd assumed leadership of his family's struggling newspaper, the Evening Star of nearby Winchester, Virginia. Reversing the paper's fortunes, he ventured into his own literary enterprise by establishing the Evening Journal in Martinsburg. Only twenty, Byrd nevertheless enjoyed the backing of several prominent local citizens and publication of the Journal began in 1907.

For an annual subscription of $3.00, the Evening Journal—styled the "People's Paper"—afforded readers a variety of news items. The paper focused extensively on local affairs, with correspondents providing news from the surrounding area. Occasional national or international news items graced the paper's pages. Despite his own Democratic leanings, Byrd kept the paper independent from partisan politics. A litany of advertisements kept revenue coming.

In 1912, Byrd sold the newspaper and soon embarked on a noteworthy Democratic political career. Byrd eventually served in the Virginia State Senate, as Virginia's governor, and finally as a U.S. Senator, where he gained notoriety later in life for his resistance to racial integration. He kept a link to the publishing world, however, for a time managing the Harrisonburg Daily News Record.

The Evening Journal exchanged ownership from Harry Byrd to Max von Schlegell, a local Martinsburg citizen. Schlegell expanded the paper to eight pages, and in 1913 he rechristened it the Martinsburg W Va. Evening Journal. Under Schlegell, greater attention was given to national and international affairs, no doubt in part due to World War I. Politically, the Journal remained relatively independent, even accepting political advertisements from both parties. In 1920, the paper underwent another name change, simply titled the Martinsburg Journal.

In 1923, Schlegell sold the paper to newspaper magnate Herschel Coombs ("H.C") Ogden of Wheeling. Ogden had established the Wheeling Evening News in 1895, which proved only the first in a long string of titles Ogden Newspapers eventually owned, including the Wheeling News-Register, the Wheeling Intelligencer, and the Martinsburg Journal. The Martinsburg paper was once again retitled the Evening Journal in 1978 and finally labeled the Journal in 1993. Still managed by Ogden Newspapers along with over 50 other papers, the Journal continues daily publication today.