Herald

(2003 circulation: 31,238 daily and 33,340 Sunday). The Herald publishes every day including Sunday and serves Rock Hill and the surrounding community. Several post–Civil War–era newspapers contributed to the founding of the Herald. Most notably, the Hampton Herald, named in honor of Wade Hampton III, was formed in 1876. This newspaper was purchased in 1877 by James Morrow Ivy, who gave the newspaper the name Rock Hill Herald. The newspaper was a booster of local causes, including the successful effort to move Winthrop Normal and Industrial School (later Winthrop University) to Rock Hill.

In 1911 the newspaper was published every evening except Sundays and took the name Evening Herald. By 1947 the newspaper’s circulation had increased to 7,500. The newspaper continued to increase its circulation, to 24,000 by 1980, and in 1985 the newspaper was sold to the News and Observer Company of Raleigh, North Carolina. That same year the name reverted back to Herald. Shortly thereafter the newspaper added a Sunday edition, and on August 1, 1988, the newspaper began publishing in the morning every day.

In 1990 the News and Observer Company sold the Herald to McClatchy Newspapers of Sacramento, California. Three years later, Orage Quarles III became the publisher of the Herald. He was the first African American publisher of a daily newspaper in South Carolina, and he served until 1996. He was followed by Jayne Speizer, the Herald ’s first female publisher.

McNeely, Patricia G. The Palmetto Press: The History of South Carolina’s Newspapers and the Press Association. Columbia: South Carolina Press Association, 1998.