The
Kent Messenger grew from the
Maidstone Telegraph founded in the
county town of Kent in 1859. It changed to its current name two years later. It was sold to the Boorman family in 1890 after its then owners, the Masters brothers, were jailed. In 1942 the Kent Messenger offices were used by
Canterbury newspaper the
Kentish Gazette (then not owned by the Kent Messenger Group) after the Gazette's offices were destroyed by a
Luftwaffe raid on Canterbury, in order to produce that week's copy of the Gazette. The
Kent Messenger remains the flagship newspaper for the
KM Group. Besides the main edition for Maidstone, editions are also published for Malling and the Weald. Along with the rest of the KM-owned papers, the
Kent Messenger was given a design overhaul in May 2005. The current editor is Denise Eaton. ==Offices==