The Western Star

The Western Star is Ohio's oldest weekly newspaper and second oldest of any sort (the oldest is the Chillicothe Gazette), published Thursdays at Lebanon, Ohio, the seat of Warren County, Ohio, by the Cox Enterprises, the company founded by Ohio Governor James Middleton Cox. The paper is also the oldest paper bearing its original name published west of the Appalachians.

It was first published February 13, 1807 by John McLean, who eventually became an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He sold it in 1810 to his brother. From the 1920's until circa 1997 it was owned by the Brown Publishing Company, owned by the family of Congressmen Clarence J. Brown Sr.. and Clarence J. "Bud" Brown Jr..

The Brown Publishing Company traded the paper to The Thomson Corporation, the Canadian newspaper company, who sold it to Cox when it decided to exit the newspaper business. The editor for many years was Gardner Townsley, roomate of Norman Vincent Peale at Ohio Wesleyan University. The current editor is Tom Barr.

Offices are at 200 Harmon Avenue, Lebanon, Ohio 45036.