Columbian Centinel

Columbian Centinel
TypeSemi-weekly newspaper
FoundedJune 16, 1790; 234 years ago (June 16, 1790)
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publicationMay 23, 1840; 184 years ago (May 23, 1840)
HeadquartersBoston, Massachusetts, United States

The Columbian Centinel (1790–1840) was a Boston, Massachusetts, newspaper established by Benjamin Russell. It continued its predecessor, the Massachusetts Centinel and the Republican Journal, which Russell and partner William Warden had first issued on March 24, 1784.[1] The paper was "the most influential and enterprising paper in Massachusetts after the Revolution."[2] In the Federalist Era, the newspaper was aligned with Federalist sentiment. Until c. 1800 its circulation was the largest in Boston, and its closest competitor was the anti-Federalist Independent Chronicle ("the compliments that were frequently exchanged by these journalistic adversaries were more forcible than polite").[3]

Russell "can be justly characterized as the Horace Greeley of his time."[4] In 1828 Russell sold the Centinel to Joseph T. Adams and Thomas Hudson, who continued publishing it.[5] In 1840, the Centinel merged with a number of other Boston papers—the Independent Chronicle & Boston Patriot, the Boston Commercial Gazette, and the New-England Palladium—to form the Boston Semi-weekly Advertiser,[6] which eventually became the Boston Herald.

  1. ^ Library of Congress. "Eighteenth-Century American Newspapers". Library of Congress.
  2. ^ Frederic Hudson. Journalism in the United States from 1690 to 1872. 1873; p.147.
  3. ^ "Boston newspapers 100 years ago." Boston Daily Globe, Dec 27, 1903; p.27.
  4. ^ "American press founded at Boston in April, 1704; spans 200 years." Boston Daily Globe, Apr 18, 1904; p.5.
  5. ^ Joseph Tinker Buckingham. Specimens of Newspaper Literature. 1852; p.99.
  6. ^ Library of Congress. "Chronicling America".