The Times and Democrat
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Circulation 8,551 Daily (as of 2023)[1] | | |
Website | thetandd.com |
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The Times and Democrat is a daily newspaper in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The Times and Democrat is owned by Lee Enterprises, a company based in Davenport, Iowa.
History and origins
The Times and Democrat traces its history to the October 1881 merger of The Orangeburg Democrat and The Orangeburg Times. It also has ties to four other newspapers born in the aftermath of the
Into this milieu came James L. Sims. The Charleston, South Carolina, native learned the printing trade at The Charleston Courier and subsequently purchased an interest in The Spartanburg Herald. When his wife died, Sims sold his interest and moved to Orangeburg. In 1878, he purchased The Edisto Clarion, successor to The Tax-Payer, and changed its name again, to The Orangeburg Democrat. Sims' editor at the Democrat was Stiles R. Mellichamp, who after a short period left to start his own newspaper, The Orangeburg Times. In 1881, Sims and Mellichamp came together again to merge their newspapers into The Times and Democrat.
A close Orangeburg newspaper colleague of Sims in those early days was Hugo S. Sheridan. Some years later, Sims married Sheridan's daughter. From this marriage came four sons, three of whom were involved in the paper. James Izlar Sims, the oldest, dropped out of school at age 14 to work at The Times and Democrat.
The news content was a little different then. One of the biggest events of the year was the ginning of the first bale of
J.L. Sims' twin boys, Hugo and Henry Sims, shared the editorship of the newspaper until Henry was elected to the
The youngest son, Gelzer Sims, graduated from the
Mellichamp and Sheridan became full-time educators. Today, Orangeburg elementary schools bear each of their names.
A weekly publication since its founding, The Times and Democrat began publishing twice a week in 1908, three times a week in 1909 and five times a week in September 1919. It returned to tri-weekly publication in May 1921 but later resumed daily publication. A Monday edition was added in the 1940s and the Sunday edition in 1953.
J.L. Sims succeeded his father as publisher in 1943. In 1951 Hugo Sims Sr. died and his son, Edward, succeeded him as editor. In the 1960s, Hugo Sims' other two sons, Hugo Jr. and Henry, served as co-editors. After J.L. Sims died in 1962 at age 47, surviving family members named Dean Livingston, 29, as publisher, a position he held until his retirement in 1999.
A century ago, The Times and Democrat was the first newspaper in town to buy a
The Times and Democrat has continued to publish daily despite hurricanes, snowstorms and a 1972 fire that destroyed The Times and Democrat's entire physical plant. Within five days of that fire, new typesetting machines and other production equipment were flown in. Within 10 days, a new press had arrived, and within 30 days, the pressroom building had been rebuilt around it.
Howard Publications acquired total ownership of The Times and Democrat in 1981. Lee Enterprises acquired Howard Publications and subsequently The Times and Democrat in 2002.
Cathy Hughes became The Times and Democrat's fifth publisher in 1999. The current editor is Lee Harter.
Starting June 6, 2023, the print edition of the newspaper will be reduced to three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Also, the newspaper will transition from being delivered by a traditional newspaper delivery carrier to mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.[2]
Further reading
T&D Staff Report. The T&D is Born. Orangeburg, SC: The Times and Democrat. October 3, 2004.
References
- ^ Lee Enterprises. "Form 10-K". investors.lee.net. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ Harter, Lee (2023-05-07). "Expanded T&D print editions begin June 6". The Times and Democrat. Retrieved 2023-07-19.