The Washington Star
The Washington Star is one of America’s most historic and iconic news institutions.
Founded in 1852 as The Daily Evening Star by Captain Joseph Borrows Tate, who promised a publication “devoted to the beautiful city which bears the honored name of Washington and to the welfare of its growing population,” the outlet entered a market in which 100 newspapers had failed over 50 years.
It was purchased the following year by William Douglas Wallach, a Texas surveyor turned publisher who shortened its name to The Evening Star and added a Sunday edition.
From modest offices on Pennsylvania Avenue’s “Newspaper Row,” it grew along with the city into one of America’s most influential dailies.
Under the stewardship of the Kauffmann and Noyes families in the 1930s, the Star, as it was more commonly known, led the nation in advertising revenue with extensive coverage of Congress, the White House, and the federal bureaucracy. The Star led campaigns to create the majestic Union Station and Rock Creek Park, and fought to end delays finishing the Washington Monument.
It was respected for its fairness and depth, winning Pulitzer Prizes for national reporting, local reporting, commentary, editorial writing, criticism, and editorial cartooning. The Washington Star Syndicate ran the columns of James Beard and William F. Buckley Jr., among many others.
It was the capital’s first newspaper to celebrate a centennial.
Its fortunes faded in the 1970s amid rising costs, television competition, and a fierce rivalry with The Washington Post. First, banker Joe Allbritton acquired it in 1975 in a last-ditch effort to save it, and then Time Inc. in 1978, but circulation and advertising continued to erode. On August 7, 1981, after 128 years of continuous publication, The Washington Star filed for bankruptcy.
Now the Washington Star is back and fully committed to the very same editorial legacy. Its long silent voice will be restored to our nation’s capital.
The Washington Star is published by the Washington Star Company.
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