The Hazard Herald
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| Type | Newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Lancaster Management |
| Publisher | Joshua Byers |
| Editor | Cris Ritchie |
| Sports editor | Tony McGuire |
| Founded | 1911 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Hazard, Kentucky |
| Circulation | 6,125 |
| Website | Official website |
The Hazard Herald is a weekly newspaper based in Hazard, Kentucky. The newspaper was founded by Bailey P. Wootton in 1911. The paper celebrated 100 years on June 22, 2011. Today the paper is located on High Street on downtown Hazard and comes out every Wednesday morning.
The first edition of The Hazard Herald was hand set and came off the gasoline powered printing press on June 22, 1911. Though there does not seem to be a copy of that first edition still in existence, the effect the Herald had on the local community during its first decade is certainly on record.
The Herald was operated by its founder and president at the time, Bailey P. Wootton, along with officers George W. Humphries, James B. Hoge and W.C. Trosper.
During that first year, a one-year subscription to the Herald could be purchased for one dollar as the paper's staff covered the growth of Hazard, which at the time was still looking forward to the coming of the railroad a year later, a move that would open up a town that in the years prior was a remote hamlet nearly cut off by the rough and tumble foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
The first two years of the Herald's publication were certainly not easy ones, as noted in Perry County Kentucky: A History, published by the Hazard Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution during the 1950s. A publisher in Hazard at that time certainly lacked some of the modern conveniences that newspaper staff today may take for granted: "With power still not available in 1911, a two H.P. gasoline engine was installed to run the press. After 1912, electricity was available and the changeover was made."
In those first years the Herald also served as a chronicler of Hazard's history (as it still does today). One of the most important events in that history was the arrival of the railroad. In the July 20, 1911 edition, the paper's fifth that first year, a story details work being completed by the Jones-Davis Company regarding construction of a section of the L&E Railroad which extended "from below Yerkes to the head of the river of the mouth of Buckeye Creek, about 18 miles."
The first train arrived in Hazard in 1912, and the railroad not only opened avenues of travel in and out of the county, but it also paved the way for a more robust coal industry, as noted in the Herald's October 7, 1912 edition: "It will not be long before the coal from this city will be counted by the trainloads instead of the carload."
Other notable events during the decade include a fire in December 1913 that ravaged the business section of town, destroying $50,000 worth of property, according to a headline of the day. Consumed in the fire was the D.Y. Combs Hotel as well as the offices of Drs. Gross and Hurst.
In August 1913, the Herald was instrumental in forming the Hazard Athletic Association, which was called for in the paper's pages. "The primary object of the Association is base ball," an article read. Elected as officers in the association were Bailey Wootton as president, J.B. Allen as vice president, J.B. Eversole as secretary and treasurer, and J.D. Stevens as manager. A membership fee of one dollar was required.
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