Birmingham (Alabama) News-Age Herald, Gravure Section, University of Alabama Centennial Pictorial

In 1850, John Cantley, a merchant from Tuscaloosa, established the Elyton Herald, Jefferson County's first newspaper. The early years of the newspaper were marked by frequent changes of name and ownership; from the 1860s through the 1880s, the paper was sold several times, each time usually resulting in a name change. It morphed from the Elyton Herald to the Birmingham Sun; then from the Birmingham Sun to The Jefferson Independent. Two years later The Independent became The Weekly Iron Age.

In 1881, the paper again changed hands. The new owners changed the name to The Daily Birmingham Age and began daily publication for the first time. With the addition of national and world news items from the Associated Press, the Age reached a peak of success, ranking second only to The Atlanta Constitution in the Southern market in advertising dollars.

In 1887, Rufus N. Rhodes founded a rival newspaper, The Daily Herald. After a year as competitors, the two papers merged on November 8, 1888, to form The Birmingham Age-Herald. This combined paper was sold in 1896 to the rival, The Daily State and for two years it was published under the Daily State Herald masthead before controlling interest was sold to E. W. Barrett and the Age-Herald name restored.

When E. W. Barrett died, his widow sold the Age-Herald to Frederick I. Thompson, Donald Comer and B. B. Comer. In 1927 the paper was sold to another rival, Victor H. Hanson, publisher of The Birmingham News. Hanson published both papers simultaneously, the Age-Herald in the morning and The Birmingham News in the evenings. On Sundays, a joint Birmingham News Age-Herald edition was distributed.

Another merger occurred in 1950 when the Age-Herald joined with the Scripps-Howard-owned Birmingham Post, which had grown to a large circulation since its founding in 1921 by Ed Leech. By the terms of the merger, the News and Post-Herald became independent papers published under a joint operating agreement. Circulation, advertising and printing were provided by The Birmingham News Company. The Post-Herald published on weekday mornings while the News became the sole evening and Sunday paper.

In 1996, the News Company instigated a switch between the morning and evening publications, again creating a joint weekend edition (distributed on Saturdays). This move reinforced The News' pre-eminent role in a time when morning papers are the norm. Toward the end of its existence, the Post-Herald adopted a niche of emphasizing more detailed local stories and featuring well-known local columnists, including Paul Finebaum.

The long-expected closure was announced to staffers and then to the public by E. W. Scripps executives on the morning of September 22, 2005, the day before the final edition.

Source: Wikipedia contributors. "Birmingham Post-Herald." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 9 Jan. 2011. Web. 27 Jun. 2011.