In 1895, William C. "Uncle Billy" Griffin came to Odessa from Midland and began publishing Ector County's first newspaper, the Odessa
Weekly News. The
Weekly News lasted only one year, and was followed by six other short-lived weekly publications until August 1927, when production of Odessa
Times and Odessa
News began. In October 1928, the two weekly papers were merged as the Odessa
News-Times. The towns of Penwell and Goldsmith supported, for a short time during oil boom of the 1930s, the only Ector County newspaper known to have been published outside Odessa. The first daily newspaper, the
Daily Bulletin, began in 1936, and the
News-Times followed in 1937. On October 2, 1940, R. Henderson Shuffler consolidated the
Daily Bulletin and the
News-Times into the
Odessa American, which he sold on Aug. 11, 1945. Ownership of the newspaper changed twice before Aug. 13, 1948, when it was purchased by
Raymond C. Hoiles of Freedom Newspapers, Inc. That company, which later became Freedom Communications, sold the
Odessa American along with its other Texas properties to AIM Media Texas, LLC, on May 18, 2012. On November 30, 2018, the
Odessa American moved to new, more modern offices at 4001 E. 42nd St., Suite 200, in Odessa. On August 30, 2019, the
Odessa American moved back to downtown Odessa to 700 N. Grant Ave., Suite 800, in the Bank of America building. In 2022,
The Odessa American moved to a 2 day printing schedule while still creating digital editions daily. ==References==