The Gainesville Sun

The Gainesville Sun
The March 22, 2009 front page of
The Gainesville Sun
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
OwnerUSA Today Co.
PublisherRynni Henderson
(2019–present)[1]
EditorDouglas Ray
Founded1876
Headquarters2700 SW 13th St.
Gainesville, Florida 32608-2015
United States
29°37′37″N 82°20′25″W / 29.6269°N 82.3403°W / 29.6269; -82.3403
Circulation14,389[2]
ISSN0163-4925
Websitegainesville.com

The Gainesville Sun is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state.

History

The paper was founded in July 1876 as the Gainesville Times, by brothers E. M. and William Wade Hampton, and was renamed as The Gainesville Sun in February 1879.[3][4][5] The paper was first printed on July 6, 1876.[6] It went through a series of ownership and name changes in the 1880s and 1890s, first being consolidated with Henry Hamilton McCreary's Weekly Bee as the Gainesville Sun and Bee, then as the Gainesville Daily Sun, and finally back to The Gainesville Sun.[3] The Alachua Advocate was another weekly newspaper owned by McCreary, and when it closed in 1889, it was merged into The Gainesville Sun.[7]

It was bought by W. M. Pepper Sr. in 1917 for $50,000 and was published by the Pepper family for three generations, until it was sold to the Cowles Media Company in 1962.[8] During the time it was owned by the Pepper family (specifically in 1922) an editor at the paper openly admitted his membership in the Ku Klux Klan and praised the Klan in print.[9] An editorial published in the paper following the Rosewood massacre justified the actions of the whites, saying "Let it be understood now and forever that he, whether white or black, who brutally assaults an innocent and helpless woman, shall die the death of a dog." Conversely, the Tampa Tribune of the time called it "a lasting blot on the people of Levy county",[10] clearly condemning rather than justifying the massacre.

In 1971, it was sold to The New York Times Company.[4] On January 6, 2012, The Gainesville Sun was purchased by Halifax Media Group.[11] In 2015, Halifax was acquired by New Media Investment Group.[12]

An online edition was launched in 1995, initially called SunOne, and later simply GainesvilleSun.com.[4] The website is now known as Gainesville.com. In 2005, it launched The Gainesville Guardian, a weekly paper aimed at East Gainesville and the city's African-American population, to mixed opinions.[13]

Awards

The Gainesville Sun has won two Pulitzer Prizes: publisher John R. Harrison won in 1966 for his campaign for better housing codes, and editorialist Horance G. "Buddy" Davis Jr. won in 1971 for his editorials in support of peaceful desegregation of the local school system.[4]

References

  1. ^ Ray, Douglas (June 17, 2019). "Rynni Henderson named publisher of The Gainesville Sun". The Gainseville Sun. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  2. ^ "Member Directory". Florida Press Association. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Steve Rajtar (2007). A Guide to Historic Gainesville. The History Press. p. 38. ISBN 1-59629-217-2.
  4. ^ a b c d "Covering the Community Since 1876". The Gainesville Sun. May 26, 2004. Retrieved February 5, 2008.
  5. ^ Losch, Paul S. (2013). "The Fleeting Fame of Florida's Filibuster, "Major" Frank Hann". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 91 (4): 491–525. ISSN 0015-4113.
  6. ^ "Florida Historical Society wishes Happy Birthday to the Gainesville Sun". Retrieved July 7, 2014.
  7. ^ Johnson, Seth (November 10, 2025). "New owners restoring 135-year-old McCreary House into bed and breakfast". Main Street Daily News. Retrieved March 18, 2026.
  8. ^ https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2004/07/27/william-pepper-sr-newspaperman/31461190007/
  9. ^ Colburn, David R. (Fall 1997) "Rosewood and America in the Early Twentieth Century", The Florida Historical Quarterly, 76 (2), pp. 175–192.
  10. ^ D'orso, Michael (1996) Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood
  11. ^ Halifax Media purchases 16 newspapers Archived 2012-01-09 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ New Media Announces Agreement to Acquire Halifax Media Group for $280.0 Million Archived 2016-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Gainesville's blacks divided on Sun's new community paper". The Orlando Sentinel. July 25, 2005.
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