The Laurens County Advertiser
The Laurens County Advertiser, a newspaper that has been serving the Laurens County community since 1885, is a weekly publication owned by a family. Currently, the newspaper prints an edition every Wednesday and has a paid circulation of 4900.
Originally founded as The Laurens Advertiser by J.C. Garlington, a 22-year-old, the newspaper faced competition from The Laurensville Herald, an established paper in the town.
In 1890, William Watts Bell of Laurens purchased The Laurens Advertiser, reorganized it, and successfully ran it until it was sold to Arthur Lee in 1910.
Arthur Lee, along with his brother Allie Lee and two friends, H.D. Rantin and W.W. Harris, joined forces and acquired The Clinton Chronicle, which was located in Clinton, a neighboring county. However, Allie Lee later sold his portion of The Chronicle and bought out the remaining shares of The Advertiser, becoming the sole owner in Laurens.
In 1949, W.J. “Jim” Brown started working for Lee. It is said that the young and confident editor once told his boss, “I could run this paper better than you.” In 1959, when Lee decided to retire, Brown and his brother-in-law David Harman purchased the paper from him. Eventually, Brown bought out Harman’s share, and the newspaper has remained in the Brown family ever since.
Under Brown’s leadership, the paper expanded its coverage to include the entire county in the 1970s and was renamed The Laurens County Advertiser. After Brown’s passing in 2002, the newspaper continued under the guidance of three of his sons, Marc, Chris, and Jim, who served as associate publishers. Unfortunately, Chris passed away in late 2008.
On April 1, 2009, Marc and Jim Brown, the remaining associate publishers, took the newspaper’s reach to a global level by launching its official website, www.laurenscountyadvertiser.net.
Throughout its 134-year history, The Advertiser has only been owned by four primary publishing families, making it the oldest privately-owned business in the county that has continuously operated.
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