About

William Kay, a pioneer in book and stationary dealing in Atlanta, established Atlanta’s first book Bindery in 1852. Kay’s bindery expanded into a job printing shop, which allowed him to publish the first issue of the Atlanta Weekly Examiner in July 1854. The paper’s first editor-in-chief was Dr. H. A. Ramsay, and his assistant editor was B. R. Daniel. On August 14, 1854, Kay and Ramsay expanded their paper with a daily edition, which narrowly beat the Atlanta Intelligencer in becoming Atlanta’s first daily newspaper. By August 29, 1854, demand for the Examiner was such that its owners added a tri-weekly edition alongside the daily and weekly versions. The Examiner was a Democratic sheet through its support of Democratic Governor, Herschel Vespasian Johnson and criticism of the emerging ‘Know Nothing’ Party. In April 1855, Ramsay retired to focus on his medical profession, and he was replaced by John H. Steele and Charles L. Barbour. In The Atlanta Daily Examiner’s September 21, 1857 issue, the paper carried a notice about its impending merger with the Atlanta Intelligencer. The article explained that the two popular Democratic newspapers were combining their resources so they could present their long list of subscribers with an enlarged and improved newspaper. When the papers combined, the Examiner was under the management of O. A. Lochrane, J. W. Dowsing, and Company. The paper was published as the Atlanta Daily Intelligencer and Examiner until March 9, 1858, when the title was shortened to Atlanta Daily Intelligencer. The Intelligencer was the only daily newspaper in Atlanta to survive Union General William T. Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” and it continued daily publication until overwhelming debts forced the sale of the Intelligencer’s materials in May 1871. In its June 16, 1871 issue, the Atlanta Daily Sun commented on the sale: ‘It was, therefore, with real regret that we looked upon the sale of the property belonging to the old Intelligencer on yesterday. Established in the year 1855 its career had been such as to cause it to be regarded as one of the institutions of the city and State; which under more fortunate circumstances and less troublous times than have existed in the last five years, would have been a source of wealth and independence to its proprietor, instead of a cause of pecuniary disaster.’