The oldest ancestor of the
Journal Star, the
Peoria Daily Transcript, was founded by N.C. Nason and first published on December 17, 1855. The
Peoria Journal was founded as an afternoon paper by Eugene F. Baldwin the former editor of the
Daily Transcript, and J. B. Barnes, and first published on December 3, 1877. The initial circulation was 1,700; one month later, it was 4,100. In 1944, the
Journal and
Transcript and their rival
Star combined presses as Peoria Newspapers Inc. with the
Star as a morning paper and the
Journal-Transcript as an afternoon paper, but retained their competition in journalism until 1954, when a full merger was agreed to. Once the agreement was reached, both the morning and afternoon papers immediately changed their names to the
Journal Star. To hold the merged newspaper, the current newspaper headquarters were built near War Memorial Drive (
U.S. Route 150) and the
McClugage Bridge; the first edition from the new presses was on November 14, 1955. Between 1984 and 1990, the
Journal Star Employee Stock Ownership Plan bought about 83 percent of the company, making it effectively employee-owned. It company also bought the
Galesburg Register-Mail of
Galesburg, Illinois, in 1989. However, the success for the employees had the opposite effect for the company itself, as it had to buy back stock of large numbers of early retirees. The paper was sold to
Copley Press, owned by Helen Copley, in 1996; Copley also owned the
downstate Illinois papers the
State Journal-Register in
Springfield, Illinois and the
Lincoln Courier. When Copley purchased the paper in 1996, the daily circulation was 75,000+. According to a Knight Foundation report in 2005, the
Journal Star circulation was 65,126. The
Journal Star was the highest-circulation newspaper in downstate Illinois and the fourth-highest circulation Illinois newspaper. As of September 2006, the
Journal Star was the 136th-largest newspaper in the United States. In 2010, the circulation was 66,720, but dropped to 15,194 in 2021. In 2007, the paper was sold to
Fairport, New York–based
GateHouse Media. In August 2019, the parent company of GateHouse, New Media Investment Group, acquired
Gannett Co. New Media Investment Group and GateHouse Media merged under the Gannett brand name. In October 2023, the
Journal Star announced it will cease carrier delivery and transition to U.S. Postal Service delivery starting on November 13. ==References==