Open Letter: End of an Era With Journal Tribune’s Goodbye

A staple in York County Maine for 135 years printed it's final edition last weekend.

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A staple of York County, farewell to #journaltribune after a 135 year run #maine #media #newspaper

A post shared by Andrew Austin (@andyaustingram) on Oct 12, 2019 at 5:15am

PDT

Growing up pre-internet (Heck, I remember the Portland Press Herald's Evening Express), we had multiple boxes for newspapers under the mailbox itself. This may seems odd to some. Yet, most families had multiple newspaper subscriptions, and each one required their own box. Plus, it was great advertising for them. Mainly, we received the morning edition, read the Sanford News (still do) weekly, and Biddeford's Journal Tribune. The idea that one of them was shutting down brought obvious thoughts of nostalgia, but also of dwindling reading habits.

With only a few thousand subscribers, it wasn't financially feasible for the paper to continue. For the last few years, I've read the Journal online. However, the practice of delivery, or going to the corner store and reading front to back is irreplaceable. This weekend, I had that very experience with the Journal Tribune one last time. Each article was part gratitude, lament, and well deserved victory lap. Under tough circumstances, a first class send off for an iconic piece of York County history.