| 1764-1770 | Denis Braud is granted the exclusive right privilege of printing in the colony by the French, then Spanish crown. He has approximately 20 known publications including the memoire protesting the transfer of Louisiana to the Spanish. Before the press’s appearance the public was notified of official information by the town crier and by the posting of handwritten broadsides. |
| 1777-1782 | Antoine Boudousquie, 10 publications known including the Spanish version of the Code Noir. |
| 1794 | Louis Duclot, a refugee from St. Domingue, publishes Le Moniteur de la Louisiane which is the first newspaper in Louisiana. It continues irregularly as a four-page weekly, bi-weekly or tri-weekly for more than two decades. Initially it has foreign news and agricultural and trade news but very little local information besides government decrees. |
| 1803 - 1810 | Eight other journals appear including El Misisipi the first spanish language paper in 1808. |
| 1803 | December 13 The Union or New Orleans Advertiser and Price Current is established by James Lyon and Company. |
| 1804 | July 27 The Louisiana Gazette is founded with John Mowry as editor. The publication will add a French section in 1817. |
| 1804 | December the Union and its print shop are purchased by James M. Bradford who is the son of David Bradford, a pioneer printer in Kentucky. He establishes the Orleans Gazette. James Bradford becomes the official territorial printer, but loses the contract in 1809 because of differences with Governor Claiborne. |
| 1807 | In England a machine is developed to produce continuous sheets of paper from wood pulp, making newspapers more practical. |
| 1808 | The first Spanish language newspaper El Misisipi, a semiweekly appears. |
| 1809 | L'Ami des lois et journal du soir - published until 1834 when it is emerged with L'Abeille de la Nouvelle Orleans |
| 1810 | The second Spanish language newspaper El Mensajero, a semiweekly appears in 1810. The Louisiana Planter begins publication. |
| 1811 | James Bradford establishes the Time Piece at St. Francisville, the first newspaper in the Florida parishes which had only recently become a part of the territory of Orleans. |
| 1813 | Red River Planter begins publication in Alexandria. |
| 1819 | La Gazette de Baton Rouge begins publication. |
| 1822 | Louisianian begins publication in Monroe. |
| 1824 | Le Courrier de Natchitoches begins publication. Gazette des Attakapas begins publication in St. Martinville. |
| 1827 | L'Abeille de la Nouvelle Orleans, founded by François Delaup, will be published until 1923 in French. |
| 1835 | The True American becomes the first newspaper in Louisiana to follow local news and politics on its pages. Previous publications had mostly clipped items from other national and international publications since most local news was generally known before it can be put into print. |
| 1836 | The Red River Herald scoops the world with the first account of the fall of the Alamo in Texas. |
| 1837 | January The New Orleans Picayune opens its doors. It would scoop the world on most stories about the Mexican War. |
| 1839 | The Red River Patriot and Shreveport Literary Register in Shreveport. |
| 1842 | Advocate in Baton Rouge - still in publication today as the Morning Advocate. |
| 1848 | The New Orleans Crescent begins publication. Telegraph service first used by the Picayune, which becomes charter member of the Associated Press. |
| 1856 | Sugar Planter is the first farm or trade journal in the state. Meridional - Abbeville begins publication. |
| All newspapers above had a six column format, ads or cards of advertisers were one column wide. | |
| Prior to the 1850s, broadsides, handbills and posters were the predominant form of advertising. In New Orleans newspapers during the 1850s, advertisements were limited to one column and a few lines like modern classified ads. By the 1860s these were often finely illustrated. | |
| During the Civil war much of the newspaper publishing business in Louisiana suffered or fell silent due to a lack of paper stock, but some continued in various ways. The Opelousas Courier limits subscriptions to people in the parish who must return the papers Some newspapers are printed on wrapping paper. By 1864 even the back of gaily printed wall paper would be used for newsprint. |
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| 1863 | The New Orleans Crescent is be suppressed by military authorities. The New Orleans Times is established in the old Crescent plant. |
| By the 1870s, cheaper paper and printing advances permitted newspapers and advertising to expand. | |
| 1875 | The New Orleans Democrat begins publication. |
| 1876 | Eliza Jane Poitevent Holbrook, 27, becomes editor and proprietor of the Picayune and first woman publisher of a metropolitan daily in the United States. |
| 1877 | The New Orleans Item is founded by 12 journeymen printers. |
| 1877 | Daniel Dennett is an agricultural columnist and reformer for the Daily Picayune, one of the few to be published during the post-Reconstruction period. He suggests a plan for peaceful division of large plantations to accommodate tenant farming and champions education for children on smaller farms. |
| 1878 | Lafcadio Hearn joins the Daily City Item which adds literary criticism, dramatic reviews, poems and cartoons. |
| During the 1880s illustrated magazines ads became the rule. In the 1880s and 1890s, trade cards illustrated with colorful lithographs had become a national craze and were avidly collected and saved in scrapbooks. | |
| 1880 | January 3 The New Orleans States is started by Henry J. Hearsey. |
| 1881 | The prosperous Democrat merges with the brilliantly edited Times to become the Times-Democrat. It is used by Major Burke as the voice of the Louisiana Lottery and the New Orleans Ring. |
| 1882 | Louis Winterhalder works for the Daily Picayune in New Orleans from 1882 until 1931 will create the weather frog and the first political cartoon in a New Orleans newspaper. |
| Modern visual advertising begins to appear and, by 1900, advertising methods and styles are essentially in place and have changed little except for media and technological advances. | |
| 1890 |
Autumn The Farmer's Vidette is established in Alexandria and is wholly owned and controlled by the Farmer's Union of Louisiana. It praises Anti-Lottery League. October 3 The Comrade begins publication in Winnfield with a wide readership in north central Louisiana. The first Populist newspaper in the South is followed by at least 50 more in Louisiana in the next ten years. |
| 1891 |
Spring The New Orleans Issue is established as the urban voice of labor , socialism, even communism. It is the most radical of Louisiana papers. |
| 1894 | Dominic O'Malley, the editor of the Item, adds scathing editorials. |
| 1896 | Henry J. Hearsey purchases Daily Advocate. |
| 1914 | July The Times-Democrat merges with the Picayune as the Times-Picayune. |
| 1933 | The Daily States is purchased by the Picayune and is continued as an afternoon paper. American Progress is founded by Huey P. Long as his administration's voice. It becomes the Progress later and suspends publication in February 1940. |
| 1958 | The Times Picayune Company buys the New Orleans Item and merges it with the afternoon States to form the States-Item. |
| 1962 | June The Times Picayune Company is bought by Samuel I. Newhouse who already owns 17 successful newspapers around the nation. |
| 1968 | The Times Picayune Company moves into a modern plant at 3800 Howard Avenue. |
Newspapers of Louisiana |
Encyclopedia Louisiana
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