Standard Gravure was a

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

rotogravure Rotogravure (or gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process, which involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it ...

printing company founded in 1922 by

Robert Worth Bingham Robert Worth Bingham (November 8, 1871 – December 18, 1937) was a politician, judge, newspaper publisher and the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1933 to 1937. Background Bingham attended the University of North Carolina an ...

and owned by the powerful Bingham family. For decades, it printed the weekly ''

The Courier-Journal Magazine ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' as well as rotogravure sections for other newspapers as well as '' Parade''. It was believed to be more profitable than the daily papers owned by Bingham. By the 1980s, a shrinking print market had reduced revenues, and an employee wage freeze was instituted by then President William E. Bockmon in 1982. In 1986, Bingham family patriarch Barry Bingham Sr. announced the family would sell all their media holdings including Standard Gravure. The employees of Standard Gravure made a bid to buy the company, but it was sold instead to Michael Shea from

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

for $22 million. After the sale the employees learned that $11 million of their employee pension fund had been used to help finance Shea's purchase.Prozac backlash: overcoming the dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and other antidepressants with safe, effective alternatives
p. 179. The company had 531 employees at two plants at the time of the sale. On September 14, 1989, Standard Gravure came to national attention when Joseph T. Wesbecker, an employee on disability leave, entered the plant with several firearms and fired at employees for thirty minutes, injuring twelve and killing eight plus himself. Standard Gravure closed in February 1992, after two serious fires. The building, at 6th and Broadway and part of the

Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...

complex, was demolished and became a parking lot.

References

#{{cite encyclopedia , encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Louisville , edition=1 , year=2001 , article=Standard Gravure Defunct companies based in Louisville, Kentucky Printing companies of the United States Mass media companies established in 1922 Mass media companies disestablished in 1992 1922 establishments in Kentucky 1992 disestablishments in Kentucky Courier Journal