JANESVILLE — Established three years before Wisconsin became a state, The Gazette on Friday marked the 175th anniversary of its first issue, printed Aug. 14, 1845.
The Janesville newspaper, which is the city’s oldest continuously operated business, was published weekly for its first 12 years — aside from a three-month experiment as a daily in 1854. It switched permanently to daily publication in 1857, following the acquisition of two other newspapers, and currently prints five days a week.
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The Bliss family purchased the newspaper in 1883, and it remained under family ownership until 2019, when The Gazette was sold to Adams Publishing Group. Sidney H. “Skip” Bliss, past president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and publisher at the time of the sale, was the fifth generation of the Bliss family to own the newspaper.
In recognition of Friday’s anniversary, The Gazette published a timeline of major events in the newspaper’s history, along with several historical photos of past staff, newsrooms and printing operations.
