About the Kentucky Gazette

Now a public affairs journal, The Kentucky Gazette was founded in 1787 by John Bradford, a Lexington printer who later published some of the first Acts of the Kentucky General Assembly and the Kentucky Almanac (1788-1807).

The Kentucky Gazette is considered the first newspaper published in the United States west of the Allegheny Mountains and was established to support Kentucky’s separation from Virginia. Original copies of the paper and references to it are included in the Library of Congress collections of George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s papers.

Bradford printed the first issues on an 18th century printing press that could produce only 50 to 60 sheets an hour. The pages were printed on animal skins. The Kentucky Gazette started out as a weekly, but soon started publishing as a tri-weekly and was delivered to subscribers by a post rider.

The paper originally did not print a lot of local news, but advertised local goods and reprinted articles of national and international importance. As the paper progressed, it started printing letters from the citizens on various issues (and people) of the day and congressional debates and proceedings of the Kentucky General Assembly. Some of Bradford’s most notable articles were published as a book, which was edited by Kentucky historian laureate Thomas D. Clark in 1993.

Bradford and his family published The Kentucky Gazette until 1848, and another Lexington paper used the name from 1866 to 1910. The official archives of the original Gazette are housed at the downtown branch of the Lexington Public Library.

Lowell Reese, a Pikeville, Ky. native, revived The Kentucky Gazette in 1995 and operated the newspaper, covering state government, business and politics, until he sold the paper to Laura Cullen Glasscock, owner of Gravel Switch Publishing, in February 2007.

The award-winning publication is the only one of its kind in the state, and it enjoys distribution and a wide readership in political and business communities throughout the Commonwealth. The Kentucky Gazette is a member of the Kentucky Press Association and the Associated Press.

The Kentucky Gazette is located just three blocks from Kentucky’s Capitol Building on Capitol Avenue in Frankfort.

Editorial Staff

Laura Cullen Glasscock is the editor and publisher of The Kentucky Gazette. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Eastern Kentucky University, with a double major in English and public relations, and a master's degree in English education from the University of Kentucky.

Glasscock holds a masters degrees from the prestigious Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. She has taught at EKU and at Lexington Community College, and for about four years she taught writing and was the student publications adviser at Kentucky State University. She served for a number of years as secretary of the Bluegrass Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and is an occasional panelist on KET's public affairs program, "Comment on Kentucky."

In addition, The Kentucky Gazette regularly publishes the work of other talented journalists and writers.

Bob Babbage, who served as Kentucky's Secretary of State from 1992-1996, writes a column on lobbying and legislative issues. He currently is a lobbyist and managing partner of Babbage Cofounder, a corporate business development government relations firm with offices in Washington D.C., Lexington and Frankfort.

Ron Bryant writes the Gazette's popular "Kentucky History" column. Ron is a state historian who now serves the commonwealth at Waveland Museum State Historic Site near Lexington. He also is a founding member of Friends of Kentucky History, and his columns appear in the history section on the Kentucky Secretary of State's Web site.

Feoshia Henderson is a former reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and The Kentucky Gazette, and now is president of WriteUp! Creative copy based in Cincinnati. She may reached at feoshia@hotmail.com.

Dan Dickson has worked in corporate communications for several central Kentucky non-profit organizations over the past decade. As communications director for Kentucky Blood Center, Dan provided public and media relations support for the Blood Center. Before that Dan served in communications with AAA Blue Grass Kentucky and Appalachian Regional Healthcare. Prior to his non-profit work, Dan enjoyed a long career as a television news reporter, anchor and producer, with 14 years spent in Kentucky at WKYT-TV and WTVQ-TV in Lexington and WHAS-TV in Louisville. He may be reached at dicksonkentucky@hotmail.com.

Jim Waters, a former reporter and editor, is director of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute on Public Policy Solutions. He may be reached at jwaters@bipps.org.