The Bradford County Telegraph turns 147 next week, marking nearly a century and a half as one of Florida’s oldest continuously published newspapers and one of Bradford County’s oldest businesses.
The paper’s roots trace to July 26, 1879, when William Wyatt Moore published the first issue under the name Florida Telegraph. The publication went through several names — Weekly Florida Telegraph, Florida Telegraph again, then Starke Telegraph — before I.C. Webb took full ownership in 1888 and renamed it the Bradford County Telegraph.
Eugene S. Matthews purchased the paper in 1893 and published it for the next 40 years, also serving in the state Legislature. His son, Eugene L. Matthews, a Columbia University journalism graduate, took over in 1933 and matched his father’s four-decade run at the helm. The paper passed to sons-in-law Bobby Ferguson and John Miller in 1973 and has continued publishing weekly ever since, with Miller as publisher after Ferguson passed.
Through 147 years, three centuries and countless changes in how people get their news, one thing has stayed constant: someone from this community, writing for this community, about this community.
That work matters more, not less, as it becomes rarer. Local newspapers across the country have closed at a steady pace over the past two decades, leaving many counties without anyone covering the school board, the commission or the courthouse. Bradford County has not lost that voice. The Telegraph has kept putting names and faces to the decisions that shape daily life here — because a community that stops watching its own government is a community that stops being able to hold it accountable.
None of that happens without readers, and it doesn’t happen without the local businesses that have advertised in these pages for generations. Our advertisers are the backbone of this operation, and many have supported the Telegraph for decades alongside their customers. We’re grateful for that partnership and encourage readers to support the businesses that make this newspaper possible.
That same commitment to the community is why we’re excited to share the newly relaunched BCTelegraph.com, built to make it easier than ever to read our coverage, browse archives and stay connected between print editions.
We’re asking readers to keep the Telegraph tradition going — subscribe, share a copy with a neighbor, and celebrate this milestone with us. In the coming weeks, watch for several new promotions we think longtime readers and newcomers alike will enjoy.
We also want to hear directly from you. What stories should we be pursuing? What’s happening in your corner of Bradford County that deserves coverage? What would you like to see more of in these pages? Email your ideas to editor@bctelegraph.com.
Here’s to the next chapter.
