''The Hartford Times'' was a daily afternoon

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

serving the

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, community from 1817 to 1976. It was owned for decades by the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...

which sold the financially struggling paper in 1973 to the owners of the ''

New Haven Register The ''New Haven Register'' is a daily newspaper published in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The Register's main office is located at 100 Gando Drive in New Haven. The ''Register'' was established about 1812 and i ...

'', who failed to turn things around leading to its closure in 1976.

History

''The Times'' was a leading newspaper in Connecticut with the largest circulation in the state in 1917. It was started by Frederick D. Bolles and John M. Niles, a future senator, as an anti-federalist weekly by the name of ''The Hartford Weekly Times'' in 1817. It styled itself as a champion of reform and an advocate for the people throughout its history. One early editor was

Gideon Welles Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802 – February 11, 1878) was an American government official who was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869, a cabinet post he was awarded after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Althou ...

, later secretary of the Navy during the Civil War. Alfred E. Burr led the paper for over six decades from 1829 until 1890, making it a daily and giving him considerable political influence statewide. In 1920 at the height of its success the paper commissioned architect

Donn Barber Donn Barber FAIA (October 19, 1871 – May 29, 1925) was an American architect. Biography Donn Barber was born on October 19, 1871, in Washington, D.C., the son of Charles Gibbs Barber and his wife, Georgiana Williams. Barber was a grandson o ...

to build a new headquarters, The Hartford Times Building. He salvaged six massive granite pillars and other architectural details from the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, a famous work of

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses ...

. A series of murals behind the columns allegorize the motto, "News is an immortal bubble and the press endures within." The newspaper was purchased by the Gannett interests in early 1928. During the 1940s, the paper owned a radio station named

WTHT WTHT (99.9 FM; "The Wolf") is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Auburn, Maine, the station serves Greater Portland. It is owned by Binnie Media, with studios on Thomas Drive in Westbrook. Programming was simulc ...

. As late as the 1960s the paper had circulation over 140,000 but its last years were marked by rapid decline. Andrea Nissen, an assistant city editor at the time of the demise said:

e werebrevetted by incompetency. Constant changes in management vitiated the confidence of the community and of ourselves... I remember three or four different editors and publishers. There was little hegemony to spare and our leaders went as fast—and with equally devastating results—as Sherman through Atlanta."

Notable journalists

Several accomplished individuals contributed to the newspaper, including Brit Hume, as a

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

; the television writer Robert Palm; the American

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, James Britton, employed as a staff artist; film critic Lou Lumenick, employed as a reporter and city editor of the Times' short-lived morning edition, The Morning Line; U.S. diplomat and speechwriter Robert Fagan, who worked as a reporter; and editorial cartoonist, Edmund S. Valtman, who won a 1962

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for his 1961 cartoon, " What You Need, Man, Is a Revolution Like Mine".

Other media holdings

The newspaper additionally owned Hartford radio station

(1230 AM) from 1936 to 1954, and WTHT-FM (106.1) from 1948 to 1950. WTHT was merged into General Tele-Radio's WONS in 1954 to resolving competing applications for channel 18 in Hartford, which signed on as WGTH under a General/''Times'' joint venture that lasted from 1954 to 1955.

References

External links

WWUH Timeline for Connecticut Broadcasting
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartford Times 1826 establishments in Connecticut 1976 disestablishments in Connecticut Defunct newspapers published in Connecticut Mass media in Hartford, Connecticut Newspapers established in 1826 Publications disestablished in 1976