Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1900-01-01
MONDAY EVENING. JAN. 1. 1900
THE ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE'S
CENTENNIAL.

like the sturdy oak, is hardy 10 it's ma
turity. Ia fact more than a century
has elapsed since it's first appearance
the paper having been an Alexandris
institution several years before TIT
beginning of the nineteenth century
although it is impossible at this time tt
fix the date definitely when the drs'
number of the Gazette appeared. Tna'
it has been circulating in this city ano
State for more than century is FACT
nevertheless, attested by its lilies, tna'
have been preserved, having been
saved from predatory red coats when
they captured the city in 1872 and from
ruthless federal soldiery in 1867 VINO
burned the Gazette Office to the ground
for chronicliug one of their acts OF sac
rilege and vandalism. 1t passed through
many trying scenes during the suose-
ousnt three years and the "reconstruc-
ton" days that followed, but, like a
rock amid the angry pillows, it has
stood the test of time, and when the
storms of war, foreign and internecine,
blew themselves out, it always emerged
as the sue from dissipated cloud, and
pursued the even tenor of its way, as 1t
is now doing.
1t would be supererogatioD to say
that the Gazette has been Recognized
part of many households in ALEXANDRIA
and the country surrounding this city
during all these years. Thousands who
have been born, played their parts and
entered the unseen world, were, ere
they Iisped the letters of the alphabet,
familiar with its headline, and contem'
plated the Virginia coat OF arms on its
editorial page as much bewlldered as
to its meaning as they were while gaz-
ing at the signs of the zodiac on the
title page OF the old family almanac.
In fact many frat learned to form let
ters into words by spelling the head
lines of the Gazette. And how many
now living can remember in the re-
mole past the cuts OF the an
tique stage coaches, runaway negroes
tubby looking ships and steamboats,, re-
sembling those 10 John Comly's spell
ing book, which were sprinkled in its
advertising pages in the olden times !
More than one hundred years have
passed away since the paper began its
mission; but, like the eagle, it ever and
anon renews it's youth, and while maps
of the world are changing, conquerors
and statesmen rising and falling, polit-
icaI parties waxing and waning, and
one generation crowding another from
earthly scenes, the Gazette is still an
institution, az it was few years after
colonial days, part and parcel OF the
Old Dominion. paper whose birth was
almost syn erroneous with that OF the
United States.
The Gazette has been recogniz ID
part of Alexandria so long that with
out it the city would SAVIOR of Hamlet
minus Hamlet. 1t was showing "the
age and body of the times" when the
infant republic was being rocked In It's
cradle; was cotemporaneous with many
of the sign ers of the Declaration OF To-
dependence and has witnessed all the
fluctuations of the country from the
time it left Britannia's apron strings to
the present day. 1t delivered the val
edictory to the last century and is now
haillng the advent of it's successor, and
enters into the new era amid the salu.
tatiOns of clientele whose prOgenitors
read in its columns scenes at the DEATH
bed of George Washington, the BON
bardmsnt of Fort McHenry, the battles
of North Point, New Orleans, etc.
As stated above, it is impossible at
present to state with any degree of GEL
tainty when the first copy of the Alex
andris Gazette appeared. Occasionally
friends have brought to this office
copies of the paper bearing that name
which had been exhumed from among
old.documents in structures erect d in
colonial days. Several copies printed
during the last decade ofthe eighteenth
century have been exhibited to the
present publishers within the past few
years.
The first mention OF the Gazette is
found in the old court records 10 which
1t is stated that in May, 1854, decres
was entered directing that a certain or
der be published 10 the Alexandra
Samuel Snowden, grand-
father of the present proprietors Of the
Gazette, was connected with the publ
cation of newspapers in Alexandra
previous to 1900, but In that year as
editor and proprietor issued the Alex
andria Advertiser, a daily newspaper.
The Gazette thus dates its establish
ment from 1900. He later purchased
The Columbian Mirror and other Alex
lndria papers and merged them into
he Advertiser. The paper appeared
,nder this name until July, 1908, when