The Gainesville Times was founded after
World War II by Charles and Lessie Smithgall under the original name
The Gainesville Daily Times. It was first published at 303 Washington Street,
Gainesville, Georgia. Ray Hull was the first editor and Sylvan Meyer was his main reporter. The first issue came from a second-hand flatbed press in a former funeral home on January 26, 1947. Since that Sunday morning, the
Times has never missed a run. The newspaper, printed daily Sunday through Friday, began with a printing capacity of eight pages per press run. Its
circulation reached about 4,000 before the end of the first year. In 1952, the
Gainesville Daily Times moved around the block to 308 W. Spring Street to share a building known as the Press-Radio Center, also owned by the Smithgalls. That same year a fire started in the composing room but the paper was still released that day with help from other printers around town. Sylvan Meyer soon became managing editor and then head editor, helping the newspaper grow. In 1957, the newspaper had grown enough to buy a more modern rotary press which allowed the printers to run thirty-two pages per press run. The "Gainesville" was then dropped from the title to convey a broader coverage area. In 1970, the
Daily Times was able to acquire a new facility on North Green Street to install a new
offset press with improved technology. The first paper from this new press was printed on April 27. The "Daily" was dropped from the newspaper name soon after in 1972. In 1981,
The Times was sold to
Gannett Co. Inc. and by the next year, Gannett expanded the press to accommodate printing of
USA Today for parts of the Southeast. In 2004,
The Times was sold to
Morris Multimedia Inc., the largest privately owned media organization in the United States. The current owner, Metro Market Media, took over in 2018. == Coverage ==