NORWICH – October 7-13 is National Newspaper Week and Chenango County can take pride in a long, rich history of publications. According to an essay written by Elizabeth Curley in 1926, over 38 different papers had already been circulated in Norwich since 1804.
Curley asserts that the first paper to ever be published in Chenango was The Western Oracle in 1803 at Sherburne Four Corners. The publication was “single octavo sheet” printed on bluish paper, Curley wrote. The Oracle, like many early publications, reported little on local news and instead focused on national happenings, much to the chagrin of local historians.
Though an astonishingly high number of different publications went to press in Chenango County during the 1800s, The Evening Sun is the only one still in circulation. First published March 16, 1891 under the name The Morning Sun, the publication has been able to evolve over the past 121 years to meet the changing needs of Chenango County. In 1941, on the 50th anniversary of The Sun’s conception A.E. Halbert, who was present in 1891, sent a later to the editor describing The Sun’s foundation.
“I was serving the third year as apprentice printer in the office of The Telegraph, when Reed Campbell started The Sun. One reason, perhaps, that there was no statement of ownership and editorial responsibility, might have been that Reed was a traveling salesman, selling cloaks for a New York firm, he had only a four months’ season with an eight months’ vacation, and it was during one of these vacations that The Morning Sun was started and before the paper was fairly on its feet, it was time for Reed to start on his annual trip, but he postponed the matter so long that another man was sent out to cover his territory. He had tried to keep the secret of his venture from employers, but was unsuccessful.”
In 1891, assumingly prior to the inception of The Morning Sun, Reed had purchased The Chenango Telegraph, a weekly periodical first printed in 1819 under the name The Norwich Journal. It can be assumed Halbert’s first hand account that Reed bought The Telegraph and then devised a scheme to create a new daily paper, using the existing weekly as a launching pad. Halbert’s familiarity with the Sun’s initial staff indicates that The Morning Sun and The Chenango Telegraph came off of the same printing press and that the staff of the two papers either collaborated closely or may very well have been the same people.
In 1926, The Evening Sun was the only daily paper published between Binghamton and Utica contracted with the Associated Press. At the time more copies of the Sun were distributed at night than there were Norwich residents, and on Jan. 19, 1929, the paper celebrated its joint 100 year birthday with The Chenango Telegraph.
Over the years The Evening Sun has changed ownership multiple times. On May 2, 1994, Snyder Communications purchased The Evening Sun, bringing the paper back under local ownership after a more than 15-year hiatus of nonnative ownership. Today The Sun go to the press every morning providing local, national and international news to Chenango homesteads every weekday.

Note: A. E. Halbert’s letter to the editor in its entirety, along with other transcriptions of early articles pertaining to The Evening Sun as well as other Chenango County publications, will appear this week in Kevin Doonan’s blog on our website, www.evesun.com.