The Western Star Newspaper Gone but Not Forgotten

US Supreme Court Justice John McLean founded the Western Star newspaper in 1807 to report the court news from Lebanon, the county seat of Warren County, Ohio.  Judge McLean was a lawyer and he felt the need to have the court news published.


Judge John McLean about 1820

 Within two years John McLean had sold the paper to his brother-in-law and moved to Cincinnati to practice law. Later he was Postmaster General of the United States and a United State Supreme Court Justice for 32 years, providing one of the two dissenting votes in the Dred Scott case - the famous anti-slavery case that set the stage for the American Civil War.  Judge McLean voted against slavery.


US Supreme Court Justice John McLean about 1855





The Warren County Historical Society has copies of the Western Star beginning with the first issue published in 1807 and ending with the last issue published just last month. We collect the papers and have them copied on to microfilm. Microfilm is the most stable and long lasting of all media including CD's and other electronic storage devices.

Half of our business as an historical society is providing research materials to people all over the United States. Our historical and genealogical library is recognized nationwide as a value historical archive. Our microfilm library of the Western Star newspaper  has been a major resource for our customers for the last 72 years.

Cox Media Group, Inc. which still owns the Western Star has ceased its publication. They see no value in the paper and believe all the new people who have moved in to Warren County in the last twenty years could care less about the Western Star newspaper. They may be right.  But somewhere down the line one of those people, or one of their children or grandchildren, is going to want to know some information about this community and its people and there will be no place to find that information. Do you think all the online content of the current news organizations is being archived for the public use? It is not. The record is disappearing as fast as you can click a page closed on your computer or smart device.

Several people have expressed to me an interest in buying the Western Star from Cox Media Group and printing it once again. One even suggested the Historical Society should use the antique newspaper press in our Western Star exhibit to print it.   As an old acquaintance of mine once said, "That just takes a lot of TLC - tons of loose cash".  And a lot of hard physical labor!

It's a bit difficult to find anyone willing to invest in newspapers right now.  But I tell you this, even though a lot of buggy whip makers went out of business when the automobile replaced horse drawn vehicles, there are still companies out there making buggy whips because there are still people driving carriages for pleasure. And there are still a few good newspaper people out there somewhere who will keep newspapers going, people who understand that a local, weekly newspaper is about local people. In the meantime, we will continue to collect anything that's printed with news of people in Warren County, have them microfilmed and keep them safe.