The Williams–Williams partnership launched the
Herald as a weekly on December 8, 1794. The Rev. Samuel Williams (1743–1800) was a
Federalist; his newspaper barely touched upon local news. Judge Samuel Williams (1756–1800) was a distant cousin and political leader of early Vermont. Both are buried on North Main Street in Rutland in the same cemetery. In the era of printing, William Fay (1797–1840) put out papers that were largely devoted to biblical parables, fables, poems and
homilies. George Beaman (1844–1856) provided welcome invigoration for political and technological reasons. He was an abolitionist who wanted to influence his Whig party (which soon became the Republican party) with anti-slavery sentiments. Due to Beaman's
boosterism, the railroad was routed through Rutland. During the era of George and Albert Tuttle (father and son, 1856–1882), the
Herald moved to daily publication when the
Civil War began and provided some distinguished reportage on the war. In 1877, a major competitor, the
Globe, and the
Herald merged. Seeking new investors, Albert Tuttle netted P. W. Clement; Clement owned the
Herald from 1882 to 1927. A Rutland native, Clement also owned
Rutland Railroad, the Clement National Bank, New York real estate interests and a
brokerage house. He used his newspaper to support his own projects and political views. He had a rivalry with the Proctor family of the
Vermont Marble Co. Clement held several political offices and ran for governor three times before being elected in 1918 at the age of 73. During William H. Field and his son William's (1927–1947) time, also a Rutland native, Field had a career as an executive with the
Chicago Tribune and was co-founder of the nation's largest-circulation newspaper, the
New York Daily News, before returning to Rutland on the death of his father-in-law, Clement, in 1927. At the
Herald, he started an advertising department, modernized business operations, and wrote the annual "Lilac Time" editorial. Bill Field engaged a distinguished typographer to re-design the paper, and he moved the
Herald into its present Wales Street building. Mitchell started at the
Herald in 1935 as a Vermont Press Bureau reporter in Montpelier, later became editor in 1941, and was acting publisher during World War II, when Field enlisted. Rutland was hit by a massive flood in 1947, losing railroad infrastructure and stoneworking and
smokestack industries. In 1950, he launched some 10,000 editorials over 40 years that promoted the economy and industrial diversification of Rutland. Mitchell opposed "chain" newspapers, but the
Herald in 1964 acquired the Barre-Montpelier
Times Argus to keep it in local ownership. In 1975, his papers launched a joint Sunday edition. In 1986, the Mitchells acquired the Noble interests in both papers, fending off interest from national newspaper chains based on a Noble–Mitchell handshake agreement. Bob Mitchell died in 1993, and his son, R. John Mitchell, publisher since 1978 of the
Times Argus, succeeded his father as
Herald publisher. In 2016, the Mitchell family sold the
Herald and
Times Argus to Vermont Community Media, owned by businessmen Chip Harris of New Hampshire and
Reade Brower of Maine. In 2018, Vermont Community Media sold the
Herald and
Times Argus to
Sample News Group, who owns the
Eagle Times. ==Notable contributors==